


The Angel's Treasure

by notquiteascrazy



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Human, Desert Island, Extremely lovable dorks, Fluff, Gratuitous mentions of thigh holsters, Idiots in Love, Like... none, M/M, Magnus is a shameless flirt, Maia is the wise one, Mentions of past abuse, Mentions/descriptions of sex toys, Miscommunication, Museum Curator!Magnus, Mutual Pining, Pirate!Raziel, Raziel had secrets, Slow Burn, Tags Contain Spoilers, They're just dorks, all the cliches, because the author indulged every one of her whims, buried treasure, but there's barely any angst, disaster gay!alec lightwood, professor!alec, pure self indulgence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:06:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notquiteascrazy/pseuds/notquiteascrazy
Summary: “Ooooh, the Angel Pirate. You know, if you were so interested in the story of Raziel, you could have just asked. He is the focus of my research after all! So given that you’ve clearly been looking at this a while. What’s your theory?”"My theory?”“Well, of course, your theory. What is Raziel’s gift? You know, his buried treasure?”When a change of life circumstance gives Magnus the means to go in search of adventure, there is only one person he can think of who should accompany him: his college friend, Alexander Lightwood.After all, what could possibly go wrong with taking the man you've always had a secret crush on to explore a tropical island on the hunt for long-lost treasure?
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 138
Kudos: 139
Collections: Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was created for the Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020 hosted by the [Malec Discord Server](https://discord.gg/5nBgEp8).
> 
> I need to do a HUGE shout-out to my amazing beta [Echele78](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echele78/pseuds/Echele78)  
> I'm not even lying when I say this fic wouldn't be half the story it is without her endless support - for real, at least 2 chapters got added along the way because she wanted to make sure I did my story justice. She signed up to get excited about pirates and has been a source of inspiration and enthusiasm every step of the way. She's been an absolute gem for putting up with my inane rambling, reigning in some of my more ludicrous ideas and helping me stitch together the ridiculously gratuitous scenes I tried to add along the way. The real hero of this story isn't Magnus or Alec, it's her!
> 
> And of course, my wonderful artist [AceonIce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce)  
> Artist announcements happened and ended up with me just yelling excitedly in her DMs for days on end before realising we really should talk about the art! I can't give too much away but all I can say is, the first ideas she sent me caused me to re-write an entire scene in my absolute excitement! She's an absolute sweetheart and also an incredibly talented writer in her own right - hence I've linked her AO3 for you to get sucked into her lovely stories too ;)
> 
> You can also find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/notquiteascrazy) should you wish to :)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the journey!
> 
> Lex 💜💜

Alec cricked his neck, rolling his shoulders to ease some of the tension. Glancing at the clock he realised it was almost 8 pm, he’d been researching for almost 12 hours straight. The desks around him were still littered with books the undergrads were either too rude or too lazy to return to the shelves but the people themselves were long since gone. Most guys his age probably would have more raucous plans for a Friday night but Alec savoured the silence, the surroundings making him feel like he was at the centre of all knowledge. Rows and rows of bookshelves surrounded the central study area, the floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the park. He had his own desk in the post-grad office he shared with the other history students but the library was his favourite place to study. Not only was he closer to the texts he needed, but the sense of peace he felt and the smell of the books (not to mention the absence of the smell of Raj’s dodgy microwave meals) all helped with his concentration.

Not that he needed the help this evening. Right now he was captivated by the words in front of him. Though the small writing and cursive scripts on some of the original texts were making his eyes ache in the evening light, the contents made it all worthwhile.

He was in the second year of his PhD studying the Caribbean trading of the late 18th century. More specifically, the attempted resurgence of pirate supremacy in the Caribbean. The heyday of pirate’s had definitely been much earlier, but around 1810 increased reports of pirates were found. Alec’s research centred around the politics of pirates, how legislation at the time and the increase of colonisation helped aid the rise of piracy, particularly the later crews. He’d been researching the trade around Nassau and the companies that operated those particular shipping routes when he’d ended up down a rabbit hole in his research. It was easily done for Alec, he adored history and devoured information at an alarming rate, whether relevant to his studies or just out of interest. So while his core focus should really have been on the governors of Nassau at that time and how their duplicitous nature had allowed them to profit not only off legitimate trade but also the pirate trade, he had found himself caught up in the tale of one pirate in particular.

All pirates had a code and their politics were surprisingly democratic in nature, but one name stood out in particular, his reputation more favourable than any of his peers. The pirate Raziel, nicknamed “the Angel Pirate”, was one of the most infamous captains of the period. He and his crew had been responsible for almost half of all pirate incidents around the Bahamas over the course of two decades. The texts Alec had found himself engrossed in described Raziel as fair and humane, unusual descriptors given his lifestyle choices. Many of the records from the ships he and his crew raided were entirely favourable in their accounts of his actions. A Robin Hood of the seas, Raziel pillaged merchant ships of their wares, but always left behind enough for the crew to survive on until they reached the next port. Raziel’s unconventional approach to pirating earned him favour among the crews of the ships he boarded but only served to infuriate the Navy and the captains of the trading companies all the more. The accounts from the authorities at the time painted an entirely different picture, he was a thorn in their sides. A scourge they wished to see wiped from the earth. He had been the most wanted man in the world for his “reign of terror” but no matter what sums were offered as a reward for his capture, no matter what jewels the crown was willing to part with, not one single person ever came forward with information.

If Alec was honest, he was more intrigued about Raziel than about most historical figures he’d researched. In general, his views on pirates were less than savoury. While yes, they believed in democracy and fairness, a lot of their motives weren’t exactly moral or in the interests of the wider communities. The phrase “There’s no honour amongst thieves” was apt to describe many crews. Their barbaric approaches and the bloodshed they caused only added to his disdain. But Raziel was an exception. He was fair and he was kind, only taking the excesses of early capitalism and distributing that amongst the communities in the region to allow others to prosper and grow. Alec couldn’t help but wonder what had motivated Raziel to choose this course, to assuage the usual methods of piracy for a more benevolent approach.

Alec’s musings were interrupted by the library door opening. While not loud by any means, in the silence that had surrounded him for several hours now, he was startled out of his reverie. He looked over to see who else would find themselves in the library rather than celebrating the start of the weekend with booze and dancing only to realise it was one of his colleagues from the history department. Alec lowered his head below the partition of the desk, hoping to avoid notice.

The sound of soft footsteps heading in his direction alerted him to the fact that his half-hearted hiding had been unsuccessful. He flipped to the next page in the text attempting to appear engrossed in his reading while trying to remember how to breathe.

The scent of sandalwood invaded his senses, making his heart stutter. Here was the other reason Alec rarely worked in the office. His brain couldn’t function when presented with Magnus Bane. The first time he had laid eyes on Magnus it had confirmed what he’d already known - Alec was very, very gay. The realisation that Alec had a type and that type was Magnus Bane was a new realisation, however. A few stilted conversations early in their studies had cemented in Alec’s mind that acquaintance was the best he could hope for as he tried not to visibly swoon whenever Magnus was around in his too-tight trousers, sheer shirts and dazzling eye make up. It might have been fine if Magnus was purely aesthetically pleasing but the fact that he was incredibly intelligent and articulate only added to his appeal. So Alec point-blank avoided the office, for his own sanity!

“Good evening Alexander,” Magnus quietly murmured, respectful of the hushed surroundings.

“H-h-hi Magnus,” he stuttered out. It was unfair really, Alec found himself thinking as he looked into the golden-green eyes of the man standing over him. Why could Alec not function at all in his presence?

“What has got you trapped in here on this otherwise lovely evening then?” Magnus asked, leaning into Alec’s personal space slightly to look at the text in front of him. “Ooooh, the Angel Pirate. You know, if you were so interested in the story of Raziel, you could have just asked. He is the focus of my research after all!”

Alec blinked at him slightly. He had known that, of course. It was just that once his research dragged him in a particular direction he was a bit like a lighthouse - his attention focussed on a very specific, narrow beam, forgetting all outside influences. “Well, uh, initially I was reading about the Governor of Nassau and well, my research went a bit sideways,” Alec blushed slightly, cursing himself for how easily flustered Magnus’ presence made him.

Magnus laughed, a musical sound that rang clear through the empty room. “Easily done. I assure you we’ve all been there. So given that you’ve clearly been looking at this a while. What’s your theory?”

“My theory?”

“Well, of course, your theory. What is Raziel’s gift? You know, his buried treasure?” Magnus pulled out the chair at the desk next to Alec, glancing around once more before smirking and kicking his feet up onto the desk. As always, Magnus was dressed impeccably. Alec didn’t know much about fashion but he did know the way Magnus clothing choices were probably very stylish. His black boots were polished to a bright shine, with gleaming silver buckles and silver plating on the slight heel. His dark trousers clung to every muscle of his legs, only emphasised by the delicate silver pinstripes running through them. His shirt was unbuttoned just past the point of decency, revealing golden skin and an array of shiny silver necklaces. He was the picture of ease. Alec’s mouth ran dry taking in the sight in front of him.

“I guess I haven’t given it much thought,” he mused, feeling on the spot but not wanting to appear stupid. “It can’t be just your standard gold bullions, jewels or the like. That wasn’t really Raziel’s style.”

“True. Though it must have considerable value,” Magnus stroked at his goatee, deep in thought.

“What if that value was actually sentimental though? Not monetary like most assume?” Alec asked suddenly.

“In what sense?” Magnus’ eyes were alight with interest, his passion for the topic evident in his expression and the set of his shoulders.

“Well we know that it’s unlikely items he’s looted, he was too much of a good samaritan to covet any treasure for himself. But look here…” Alec ran his finger down the page in front of him, trying to find the specific passage, “‘ _Raziel’s gifts were hidden by the pirate towards the end of his captaincy’_ the texts are all inconsistent. Lots of them talk of Raziel’s gift but some of them mention giftS plural,” he emphasised the S as he spoke. “What if it wasn’t as most assumed, gifts from Raziel but gifts **for** Raziel. We know he had many admirers and he helped many people. What if the gifts are actually payments or thanks or tokens from loved ones?” Alec was almost breathless by this point, having rushed out his thought almost as soon as it had come to him.

Magnus hummed quietly for a moment. “You know, I’ve been researching Raziel for almost half a decade and no one has come up with a theory quite as compelling as that,” he held Alec’s gaze as he continued, “It’s a shame you’re never around the office really. With a mind like yours to debate with, I’d probably be much further along with my PhD.”

Alec barked out a self-deprecating laugh, blushing again. “I just prefer the quiet and the company of books I guess. Anyway, the others are just as into this stuff as I am.”

“Agree to disagree on that one I’m afraid. Lydia thinks the whole concept of hidden treasure is too whimsical and childish. And Raj? Well, his theory stemmed around the reports that Raziel’s presence brought about euphoria and the depictions of him as an Angel. He took those accounts rather literally, completely overlooking the idea that Angels are kind and bring blessings of a more metaphorical nature. So to Raj, the treasure doesn’t exist but instead, Raziel was a 19th century drug lord, handing out hallucinogens like they were candy,” Magnus smirked. “I’ve had some great experiences over the years with all sorts of illicit substances but nothing that would be quite worthy of so many written accounts labouring on about the experience in such an effusive manner.”

“That makes absolutely no sense at all. How did Raj even get funding for a PhD if that’s how his brain works?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Magnus said, shrugging his shoulders and making his shirt cling ever so slightly tighter against his biceps. The effect was disarming for Alec’s brain function, which was already on tenterhooks.

“It surprises me that no one has ever found Raziel’s treasure,” Alec said, bringing the topic back away from borderline insulting their colleagues.

“I don’t think anyone’s ever cared enough to look. He’s hardly the most famous pirate. Also, most people with an interest in studying piracy are far more interested in the blood and gore side of things. Raziel by all accounts is ‘boring’ in comparison.”

“But you’re interested, ” Alec stated quietly.

“Well yes, but I am the exception to many rules,” Magnus ducked his head.

Alec couldn’t argue with that. After all, how many other historians walked around with bright streaks in their hair and wore eyeliner and jewellery? Magnus was one of a kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any early guesses about the treasure?  
> Points to anyone who can guess [who didn't see the summary during beta / artist sign ups!]


	2. Chapter 2

_6 years later…_

~~~

_**RE: Estate of the late Asmodeus Bane** _

_Dear Mr. Bane,_

_I regret to inform you of the death of your father, Asmodeus Bane. May I offer you my deepest condolences at this difficult time._

_As your father’s solicitor, it is my responsibility to carry out his wishes as described in his last will & testament. As the sole benefactor of your father’s estate, could I please ask you to contact my office at your earliest convenience to arrange an appointment to discuss this._

_Kind regards,_

_Jia Penhallow_

Magnus sighed, folding the letter and placing it back in the envelope. So that was it, his father was finally out of his life for good. If he was honest, he was surprised that he had been left with anything at all. He had been estranged from his father for most of his life. His father was a bad person and while nothing had ever been pinned on him with any certainty, Magnus had known from an early age that he hadn’t gained his considerable fortune by being one of the good guys.

Pouring himself a whisky he sat back in his chair. Did he want his father’s blood money? He wasn’t well off by any stretch of the imagination. Working as a museum curator wasn’t exactly the most lucrative career in the world, but he enjoyed what he did and made enough to get by. Did he want to cash in his morals for a bigger flat and a healthier savings balance? Probably not.

Knowing that he probably shouldn’t bottle all this up, he picked up the phone and called the one person guaranteed to help him muddle through his thoughts about his actual father - his surrogate father.

“Ragnor, hi. Are you free to talk?”

_“For you Magnus, of course. Is everything ok?”_

“It’s Asmodeus. His lawyer has written to me regarding his estate.”

_“He’s dead? Well, I can’t say many people will miss the son of a bitch… Are you ok though?”_

Magnus smiled at Ragnor’s response. His family in all but blood, Ragnor had always looked upon Asmodeus with disdain. At 10 years old Magnus had stubbornly refused to go home ‘ever again’ declaring that he wanted nothing more to do with his father. Ragnor had kindly taken him in and given him a much better upbringing than Asmodeus could have offered. In fact, it was Ragnor who had first sparked Magnus’ interest in history and encouraged him to pursue his studies. He owed Ragnor for everything good in his life.

“I’m fine. Honestly. This means I never have to think about him again. Though I don’t know what to do with the money. I don’t want anything to do with it, I just want to give it all away.”

_“While I can completely understand that, I wouldn’t be so hasty to reject it.”_

“But I wanted nothing from him in life, I can’t take from him in death.”

_“But you could do a lot of good with that money? Or at least, have some fun with it?”_

“I don’t know,” Magnus spoke slowly, pondering Ragnor’s words.

_“Look, I have to go. But promise me you’ll think about it before you do anything stupid with your inheritance. And call me if you need anything. Anything at all.”_

“Thanks, Ragnor. Speak soon.”

_“Take care of yourself Magnus.”_

Hanging up, Magnus swirled the whisky around his glass, thinking about what Ragnor had said. That money could open a lot of doors. But money could also corrupt, especially money from ill-gotten means. 

~~~

It was raining out because of course it was. Magnus hadn’t remembered his umbrella when he’d jumped on the train that morning. Now Magnus found himself shivering slightly in his damp clothes, his hair undoubtedly ruined, making his way through an imposing corridor. Magnus wasn’t easily intimidated, especially not in academic surroundings but something about the dark brown wood cladding on the lower half of the walls and the mustard paint on the top half just screamed, ‘You don’t belong here’. He reached the third door on the left, as directed by the kind porter who had greeted him in the lobby, and paused, taking a deep breath to steel his nerves he knocked twice on the door.

“Come in.”

His heart stopped for a brief moment. Though it had been close to six years since they’d last seen each other just hearing those two little words had taken him back. Magnus entered the office and looked around. Everything about it was so very Alec. From the neatly arranged bookcases to the spider plant spilling out over the window sill, and the tidy desk. He resisted the urge to ‘aww’ at the pens sticking out of the top of a giant mug proclaiming ‘World’s Best Brother’.

As he stepped towards the desk, Alec looked up from his paperwork and finally noticed who was in his office.

“Magnus? What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Alexander. What a way to greet a guest.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please take a seat,” Alec gestured at the chair across from him. “I just, well I was expecting you to be a second year making excuses for why they wouldn’t hand an essay in on time. This is quite a surprise. A good surprise of course. Seeing you out of the blue? Who wouldn’t be happy,” he stopped suddenly. Clearly realising he was rambling and looking down at his desk, with a slight flush on his cheeks.

Magnus’ insides squirmed. The last few years had only served to make Alec more handsome. His dark hair was still unruly and his physique still as drool-worthy and toned as ever but the way he carried himself now had more confidence to it. And instead of the ever-present dark circles under the eyes that are the staple accessory of a PhD, he had delicious crinkles at the corners that spoke of a life full of joy and laughter.

“Actually, if you aren’t too busy, can we go somewhere and grab a coffee? This feels a bit too much like old Professor Herondale’s office and it’s bringing back haunting memories.”

Alec clicked a few buttons on his mouse, his eyes tracking over the computer screen in front of him, before replying, “Sure, looks like I have a bit of free time before my next appointment. Though for comparing my decorative choices to Herondale’s, the coffee is on you.”

Magnus chuckled and stood again, trying not to ogle too much as Alec made his way around the desk. The light blue sweater Alec was wearing was fitted against his broad shoulders and the knit of the sleeves only highlighted how muscular his arms were.

 _‘Get it together Bane, you’re here to proposition him for a project, not a date!’_ he scolded himself. Though as soon as the thought entered his mind, he regretted his choice of words. Thinking of propositioning Alec in any circumstance would not be good for his concentration levels!

“There’s a great little coffee shop just a couple of blocks down if you’re ok with overly cocky baristas. The coffee more than makes up for him though,” Alec said with a slight smirk.

He made his way over to the coat hook by the door, shrugging on a dark blue blazer. His cream slacks almost indecently tight in the way they clung to his thighs. Magnus gulped slightly at how the overall ensemble came together.

Ever the gentlemen, Alec held the door open for him before leading the way back out of the building and into the drizzly courtyard. They caught up as they walked, exchanging pleasantries about how they’d been and complaining about the weather. All the while Magnus kept looking at Alec out of the corner of his eye, revelling in his appearance. Ok, Alec still rambled a little but otherwise, his stutter seemed to have mostly disappeared in the intervening years and he had grown into himself in many ways.

Less than 10 minutes later they were sitting opposite each other in the slouchy armchairs at Java Jace. Between the coffee served in glasses (seriously, how were you even meant to pick it up? There was a reason ceramic has been used for literally thousands of years) and the quirky decoration, the place couldn’t get more hipster if it tried. They were surrounded by people in thick-framed glasses and checked shirts hunched over laptops or reading paperbacks.

“So the blonde behind the counter… you used to live with him didn’t you?” Magnus said, glancing around the shop, trying to maintain his composure.

“Jace? Still do. It’s been over a decade now and we haven’t killed each other so… I just consider him family at this point,” Alec shrugged nonchalantly.

“If it works, it works,” Magnus smiled over at him.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, enjoying the warmth of the coffee shop after the cold, grey of outside. Magnus marvelled that even after all these years, Alec’s mere presence bought him such a sense of calm. Well, as long as he didn’t think too much about what he was going to attempt to do.

The intrigue was clearly too much for Alec and he would no longer let Magnus avoid the topic though. “So, as I said, this is a very nice surprise but I guess you’re here for a reason Magnus?”

Magnus sighed, looking out the steamed window and watching people scurry through the drizzle. How to even start? He took a deep breath and decided to jump right in at the obvious starting point.

“My father died.”

“Ohhh,” Alec looked taken aback. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine, it was a few months ago now,” Magnus continued, shrugging off Alec’s sympathy. It wasn’t like it was a sad occasion really, not in his mind. “Anyway, he left his entire estate to me. At first I resolutely did not want anything from him, in fact, I was going to give every penny to charity. But then Ragnor suggested that I should keep the money and do something for me.”

“Okay,” Alec said slowly, “that sounds like a good idea for your inheritance. Doesn’t necessarily explain why you’re here. Though now I’m very glad I made you buy the coffee,” he smirked.

Magnus pondered this for a minute or two, picking up his coffee from the table and blowing gently over the surface to cool it slightly.

“My father always wanted me to go into finance you know? Told me history was a waste of my time. What’s done is done and can’t impact on my future etc etc. You know, all that idiocy people spout when they’re too narrow-minded to see that the world doesn’t learn from mistakes unless people are there to research our past and put it out there in an accessible way. No, as far as my father was concerned I should have been studying business or economics. Something that would get me a job in one of those big banking firms - running investment funds or whatever. ‘Go where the money is’ he used to say. Imagine his disappointment when he found out I was going to be a historian!”

Wrapping his hands around the glass as if the warmth could erase the cold memories of his family,he took a long drink before continuing, “Anyway, I decided that if I was going to do something for me, I would make it something to really piss dear old dad off. You know, one final dig at the old man. So I’ve decided I’m going to finally get to the bottom of that bet we made all those years ago…”

Alec’s brows furrowed in confusion, “What bet?”

Magnus laughed, of course he wouldn’t remember. It hadn’t even been a real wager, just a passing conversation at the time. “You know, what Raziel’s treasure really is? I’m going to find it and prove what his ‘gifts’ were once and for all.”

Alec’s eyes widened in surprise, “Are you serious? You’re serious, aren’t you?” he sat back, crossing one long leg over the other and causing Magnus’ heart rate to briefly lift at the way the simple movement accentuated every line of his body.

“100% serious Alexander. I’m going to find the treasure,” Magnus confirmed, meeting Alec’s hazel eyes dead-on. “And I want you to come with me.”

At that Alec snorted. Actually, literally snorted. It may have been the most inelegant thing Magnus had ever witnessed him do, but it was also the most adorable. The intervening years had definitely done nothing to dampen his attraction for this man. He was smitten. And yet he was still inviting him to come on a trip around the world with him on what basically amounted to a whim. He was nothing if not fully committed to making this adventure as complicated, insane and fun as possible. In fact, inviting a devilishly handsome man along and flirting with him the entire time would just be another way to continue to annoy his father’s memory. This plan was perfect, even if the entire trip could turn out to be a slow torturous death.

“Look, with my inheritance I can afford to fully finance this project. All expenses will be covered, you will have a full salary. It’s like having a grant to go out and do your own research, completely in your own way, except the salary will be more competitive. And you’ll have no-one breathing down your neck at all, well except maybe me occasionally but I’d like to think I’d be a benevolent leader,” Magnus tried his best to look demure.

“Magnus, I’m an academic, not an adventurer.”

“C’mon, you can’t pretend that you enjoy droning on at hungover undergrads, live a little Alexander. Get out from behind that desk,” Magnus continued to look at Alec over the brim of his cup as he finished his coffee. He could see the cogs turning as Alec mulled over the invitation.

“I do not drone on. I’ll have you know my students love me.”

“Hmmm,” Magnus arched an eyebrow at him. Sure his students probably loved looking at him, maybe even enjoyed the deep timbre of his voice but there were probably only a couple who truly enjoyed the subject. No matter how you dressed it up, for many people history was just dull.

“I have responsibilities, Magnus. It’s midway through the semester, I can’t just up and leave.”

Magnus smiled to himself. The arguments were getting weaker, he had this in the bag!

“And no one is asking you to, Alexander. After all, if we’re to do this, I’ll need to hire a team to support us. I’ll need to research the correct permits and visa requirements, it’s going to be an organisational nightmare. I’m still very much in the early days of planning, I just wanted to get the most important team member on board early. But that works in your favour, it gives you time to wrap up your commitments here and sort out time off to come on this adventure.”

“Do you even know where the treasure is? How to find it? No one has found it before which means, even if it’s not the most desirable collection of artefacts to search for, it’s not going to be easy.”

“I have a few ideas,” Magnus winked at him.

“Like what?” Alec leaned forward in his chair again, clearly eager to hear what information Magnus may have.

“Well, I can hardly tell you that. Not unless you agree to join my team. I can’t risk this information getting into the wrong hands and someone unscrupulously going after the treasure in some sort of historical race to uncover the truth.”

“I doubt anyone cares about this to quite the same level we do Magnus, I think you’re safe on that. After all, it hasn’t been found in 200 years!”

“Still, I’m going to need a commitment from you before I tell you all my deep, dark secrets,” Magnus suggested with a wink, enjoying the way this caused Alec to flush. He’d forgotten how adorably the other man responded to even the most basic flirting and how fun it was to be the cause of such a response.

Alec glared at him across the table but despite the effort, he was clearly putting in, the look carried very little weight. In fact, it only caused Magnus to feel even more enamoured.

“C’mon, what do you say? Join me on an expedition into the unknown? Let’s find Raziel’s gifts and see what all the fuss was about?”

“This is possibly the most hair-brained scheme I’ve ever heard you come up with. And that includes the conference where you tried to convince us all to break into the hotel pool to go swimming in our underwear at 5 am,” Alec grouched. “But, you have my attention.”

“Your attention, or your word?”

“Fine. You have my word. I’ll come on your ridiculous trip with you,” Alec grinned. “But I reserve the right to say I told you so if we fail to find the treasure!”

“Trust me, Alexander, we’ll find it. I have a good feeling about this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading so far.
> 
> My intention is to post 2-3 times a week but that relies on my sieve brain remembering (Which I forgot yesterday!)
> 
> As ever, you can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/notquiteascrazy) too.
> 
> Lex 🧡🧡🧡


	3. Chapter 3

_3 months later..._

~~~

“You honestly didn’t have to bring me to the airport Iz, I could’ve grabbed a cab,” Alec said for what felt like the millionth time, shouldering his hiking rucksack and grabbing his suitcase before Izzy could reach for it.

“It’s the middle of the night Alec, of course I had to make sure you got here safely then see you off!” Izzy nudged him before slamming the car boot and linking her arm through his. “Besides, I haven’t seen Magnus in years and I want to know if he’s still as hot as ever!”

“I already told you, he hasn’t changed all that much,” he grumbled, striding towards the departures terminal. He checked his watch, despite his flight being scheduled for 4 AM he had still insisted on leaving plenty of time ‘ _just in case’_ , so he was a full 20 minutes early for when he’d arranged to meet Magnus.

“Translation: He’s _still_ breathtakingly gorgeous and you _still_ turn into a stuttering mess when faced with him!” She grinned up at him, eyes full of mischief.

“No! Well, not the stuttering part. Thankfully I’ve moved on from that at least.”

While Alec had come to terms with his sexuality as a teenager, it had taken a long time for him to feel comfortable talking to his sister about men. But she was persistently nosey, so all it took was one visit to him during his PhD and she instantly knew he was head over heels for his colleague. At first, she’d teased him mercilessly for his crush before she’d realised just how useless he was at anything remotely involving romance, then she’d tried her best to encourage him to ask Magnus out. She’d met the man maybe four times and was convinced that he was as mad about Alec as Alec was about him. But Alec knew that wasn’t the case. Magnus was friendly with everyone, Alec wasn’t anything special to him. It was still nice to be able to talk to Izzy about this though and know that someone was in his corner, no matter how delusional she may be.

“I took the liberty of packing condoms & lube for you, you can thank me later,” Izzy whispered in his ear, causing his cheeks to heat.

“This is a work trip, not spring break Iz.”

“That it may be, but you’re still going to a tropical island with someone as handsome as Magnus. Best to be prepared!” She snickered at him.

God Alec hated his siblings sometimes. He wouldn’t change them for the world but he could do without the incessant teasing. At least Jace had to open the shop later that morning so had stayed home, that was one less person to give him a hard time.

Ever since Magnus and he had been there for coffee, Jace had brought him up at every opportunity. The last few months as they’d been preparing everything for the trip, Jace had been merciless. Alec would argue until he was blue in the face that he and Magnus were just friends, and now colleagues. It still didn’t make a difference. He had even at one point accidentally given Jace a black eye throwing a potato at him one evening. Jace deserved it for his juvenile sing-song voice chanting at Alec, “ _Magnus & Alec, sitting in Nassau, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!_” while Alec happened to be preparing dinner. Jace hadn’t been able to duck out of the way of the projectile in time.

They entered the terminal and Alec studied the departure board, their flight was still listed as leaving on time. He made a mental note of their check-in desk numbers and pulled out his phone to text Magnus. The other man, clearly as punctual as Alec was, had already texted him to say “See you at check-in” with the same desk details Alec had been about to send him.

“Well I guess this is goodbye,” he said, unlinking their arms to pull Izzy in for a hug.

“No way Alec, I’m sticking around until you’ve made it safely through security. Anyway, I want to see Magnus too,” she glanced around before making a beeline towards the correct desk.

Even from a distance, Alec could already spot Magnus leaning casually against a concrete pillar. His breath caught at the sight. Even in travel attire, Magnus was the picture of elegance. His loose cotton shirt open at the chest and maroon trousers still looked fashionable to Alec’s untrained eye. His hair was softer than he was used to seeing, not styled to its normal heights, and his make up was simpler. But to Alec, he looked perfect.

Alec hoped his sudden urgency had been subtle but judging by Izzy’s barely concealed snort, she’d noticed his increase in pace. He bit his lip slightly, if he was swooning over Magnus before they even boarded the plane then this trip was already heading for disaster. _‘Get it together Lightwood’_ he thought, trying to school his face into something approaching professional friendliness.

“Alexander, you’re early,” Magnus’ musical voice cut through the quiet of the terminal, the other travellers all shuffling around sleepily. “And Isabelle, how long has it been? Five years? Maybe six? You look exquisite as always, dear. I love those boots.”

Alec smiled at Magnus’ ability to adapt to any given social situation as his sister swooned next to him and twisted her body slightly to accentuate the thigh-high boots she was wearing. No wonder his sister and his colleague got on so well, considering they were both the type of people who would turn up to the airport dressed to impress in the middle of the night!

“Thank you! In answer to your question, too long,” she stepped forward to pull Magnus into a hug, air-kissing each cheek and mouthing over his shoulder at Alec ‘ _Still gorgeous_ ’. He glared in response. Stepping back to Alec’s side, she continued, “So you’ve finally convinced my brother to take a holiday I see? That’s quite the achievement.”

“My darling, this will hardly be a holiday. I intend to work your brother hard,” Magnus threw Alec a wink causing his face to heat instantaneously. “Though I do also hope there will be some opportunities for pleasure too. Take advantage of the sun and maybe enjoy a few cocktails. It would be a shame to be in such a paradise and not have at least a few days off to enjoy it.”

“Well yes, but we do also need to find the long, lost treasure. That’s not going to be an easy feat,” Alec reprimanded him flatly.

“Relax Alexander,” Magnus dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I have it all under control. Not even an hour into the adventure and you’re already taking that authoritative tone with me. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities for you to boss me around over the next few weeks, on my own trip no less. There’s no need to start so soon.”

Another wink, another heart-stopping moment. Alec was doomed. So very, very doomed. 

“Right,” Alec cut in awkwardly, clearing his throat with a soft cough. “Shall we get checked in?”

“Yes, yes. The adventure begins!” Magnus exclaimed with a grin. He pulled Izzy into another hug, “It was a pleasure to see you, dear. When we’re back from the high seas, we shall have to meet for dinner and I can tell you all about our escapades. I don’t trust your brother not to turn it all into a simple academic exercise and leave out the fun parts about rum and dancing.”

Izzy giggled. “You’re right not to trust him. Good luck Magnus, I hope you find all you’re looking for on this trip,” she told him, giving Alec a pointed stare.

Alec simply stared back at her, face unamused but unreadable. He pulled his sister into a big bear hug, “Keep Jace out of trouble please, I would like an apartment to come home to when we’re done with this trip,” he joked.

“I’ll try. We’re going to miss you, Alec.” She squeezed him tightly as if to keep him close for every second she could.

“I’ll miss you too Iz, I’ll call and text when I can.”

“You best do.” She finally released him from her grip. “Look after him Magnus. Anything happens to him and you’ll have me to answer to.”

“I’ll do my best,” Magnus said with a slight chuckle.

Alec gave Izzy one more tiny wave before once again picking up his bags and following Magnus to the check-in desk.

Once their bags were safely rolling away from them down the conveyor Magnus pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Great, we have about an hour and a half before boarding. I know it’s a lot of time but thank you for meeting me early. I hate feeling rushed when I travel.”

“No problem - I’m the same. I would have suggested meeting around now anyway, I don’t trust the security lines!”

“Speaking of, shall we?” Magnus gestured ahead of him, in the direction of said security line.

Falling into step with each other, they joined the back of the short queue and made pleasant small talk discussing the end of the semester for Alec, including amusing anecdotes about how he was pretty sure one of the first years had been blind drunk in their exam, given their essay about 18th century pirate trades had included multiple references to CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow.

“They’d not only capitalised every letter but also underlined it too, in case we could forget,” Alec explained with a fond chuckle, stepping forward to put his hand luggage and belt into the tray for x-rays.

Magnus wiped at his eyes, breathless with laughter. “You almost make me wish I’d stayed in academia to be honest.”

“It does have its bright moments I’ll admit,” Alec said, feeling grateful to witness the sheer joy in Magnus’ expression and the knowledge that he had been the cause of it. Well, OK one of his students had been the cause but Alec was the one who told the story and got to witness the way Magnus’ entire face lit up, how his smile threatened to split his cheeks in two and the crinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened. So lost was he in admiring the other man, that he almost didn’t notice the impatient security guard trying to wave him through the scanner.

He stepped through with no issues and once Magnus had joined him and they collected their carry ons, they made their way through to the departure gates.

“Shall we grab a coffee while we wait for the gate to be announced and you can fill me in on the plan?”

“That sounds good to me.”

They wandered in the direction of the Starbucks sign, and after a brief argument about who would pay for the coffees, which Alec won by just shoving Magnus’ hand out the way, they found a free table to sit at.

“So once we arrive in Miami, we won’t have long until our connection to Nassau where we’ll meet the rest of the team. I had them fly out a few days in advance to make sure that everything we would need would be ready for us. Tents, equipment, food, water, etc” Magnus listed off.

“You mentioned that this trip would be relatively self-contained. So will I know any of the others joining us?”

“Perhaps. I’ve arranged for two research assistants to join us, Maia and Simon. Both are recent graduates. In fact, Simon studied at the same university that I managed to snag you from,” Magnus said with a wink.

“Simon Lewis?” Alec said, internally groaning. “If so, that kid has never learnt to shut up. He was enthusiastic enough and worked hard, but he was always the one whispering through lectures, constantly.”

“That sounds like our Simon. But you clearly had a good influence on him because he was incredibly keen to sign up, even when I warned him much of what he would be doing would be more manual labour and ‘camp management’ than actual historical research.”

“What about Maia then?”

“Maia Roberts. She’s an interesting one. I met her towards the end of her degree, she interned at the museum I was working at. Her story is her own to tell but she had a tough time through her studies, let’s just say her boyfriend was a piece of work. She seemed like she needed to get away for a while and reset. She’s tenacious and intelligent and will be an asset to the team, I have no doubt.” Magnus paused before adding, “And I figured she might be useful when it comes to keeping Simon in check,” grinning at Alec.

“Hmm, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Alec returned his smile, trying to ignore the warm feelings washing over him. They were about to spend six weeks on a remote island in the Caribbean, he really had to keep his feelings in check!

They relaxed into a comfortable silence, both happy to observe the early morning travellers moving around the terminal. Occasionally Alec would allow himself to gaze at Magnus out of the corner of his eye. Occasionally Magnus would catch him looking and they’d exchange a soft smile. Each time, Alec’s heart would stutter and his cheeks would warm. But it still felt relaxed, normal even, to share a space without the need to fill every silence with conversation. This was promising given they were about to spend so much time together. As long as Alec didn’t completely lose his mind to lust along the way.

They’d both finished their coffees by the time a crackly voice over the Tannoy announced the gate for their flight would shortly be opening.

“Shall we?” Magnus gestured in the general direction of the gates.

Alec stood and hoisted his rucksack back onto his shoulder, “After you.”

They joined the queue of passengers already at the gate, both ready with passports in hand and boarding cards tucked neatly inside to bookmark the photo page. Alec, ever practical, found it incredibly endearing that Magnus was the same level of organised and efficient when it came to air travel. It might be weird to most, but there was something wholly attractive about being in the company of someone so competent. Or maybe he’d just travelled with Jace one too many times...

They shuffled forward in the queue until it was their turn at the desk.

“Ah sir, you appear to have an emergency exit seat, you understand that you may be required to assist in the case of an emergency?” the woman checking his passport asked.

“Yes, we’re both aware of the responsibilities. I just wanted to give my colleague here a more comfortable experience given he’s as tall as a tree,” Magnus joked, handing over his boarding pass and passport.

The flight attendant laughed politely with them both and gestured them onto the plane. Alec found himself marvelling at just how thoughtful Magnus could be. The flight would only be about 3 hours long in total but he was still grateful to have space to stretch out. Now he only had to pray for no screaming children nearby!

They found their assigned seats, Alec pulling out his headphones and the murder mystery Izzy had bought him for Christmas and chucking them onto his seat.

“Would you like me to put that up here?” Magnus asked, gesturing to Alec’s rucksack.

“Thanks,” Alec said. 

Magnus’ shirt lifted slightly as he stretched to reach into the overhead locker revealing a tantalising strip of golden skin. Alec would vehemently deny that he used the opportunity to check out Magnus’ abs. Absolutely not. Definitely wouldn’t be so unprofessional. Nuh-uh.

Alec got himself settled as the usual plane-boarding scuffle continued around him, firing a quick text into the sibling’s group chat to let them know he had boarded and would message them again when he landed. Almost instantly he got replies from both of them.

_Izzy: Enjoy your romantic getaway, Alec! Send us lots of pics (and not just of Magnus)_

_Jace: Remember to drink lots of water! Drooling constantly on a desert island will leave you dehydrated!_

_Alec: You two are the worst._

He flicked his phone into flight mode before either could reply and cause him further embarrassment. In the inevitable traffic jam that had formed in the aisle next to their seats, a woman was very rudely making a phone call, talking entirely too loudly for such a confined space. The combination of her obnoxious voice and too strong perfume made Alec’s face wrinkle in disgust.

“Are you ok Alexander?” Magnus murmured, leaning in with a look of concern on his face.

“Absolutely fine,” Alec gritted out. Staring resolutely straight ahead and praying that the woman with the grating voice was seated far away from them.

“Are you a nervous flier?” Magnus asked gently. “You can hold my hand during take-off if you need to.” He laid his arm, palm up, on the armrest between their seats.

Alec’s heart fluttered in his chest at the display of genuine kindness. He looked down at the hand offered to him, the skin looking so soft in contrast to the gleaming silver rings decorating the fingers. He could pretend that he was indeed nervous, use this as an opportunity to know just what it felt like to hold Magnus’ hand. But he also knew if he did that, he would be tempted all the more. And already, Magnus’ presence was far too intoxicating.

“No. Just not a big fan of people,” Alec managed to respond. Surprising himself by his ability to keep his tone even, despite his internal screaming. He clenched his fist against his thigh, determined not to give in to the temptation of Magnus. This was his colleague after all, he wasn’t here for a ‘romantic getaway’, no matter what his siblings might joke about. Magnus had invited him along in a purely professional capacity and he would behave as such.

God, this was going to be a long trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's official... All Bang fics are now posted!
> 
> If you haven't already, please go check out the rest of the collection because there's SO MUCH EXCITING FIC TO READ!!!
> 
> Big shout out to all fellow writers, artists & betas for the amazing content that has been created 🥰🥰🥰
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the journey so far!
> 
> Lex 💛💛💛


	4. Chapter 4

Magnus woke up to something tickling at his ear. It was mostly dark around him, the cabin of the plane only dimly lit by emergency lights. The hum of the engines and the slight shuffling of people trying to get comfy in their seats was the only noise around.

He’d fallen asleep with his head at an angle but his neck didn’t feel as stiff as it normally did when he made this mistake on planes. And there was that tickle at his ear again. He raised his hand to swat at whatever it was, only to be confronted by something warm and very much solid. Magnus blinked a few times taking in his surroundings. The something solid moved slightly, causing him to jump a bit. It took a few moments for his brain to fully process the situation before he realised that at some point in the flight he had accidentally cuddled up to Alec. He slowly extricated himself, trying to keep his movements smooth to avoid waking his colleague.

As he sat up fully, Alec made a cute little snoring noise that almost had Magnus cooing. Checking to ensure he hadn’t actually woken up, Magnus shuffled to put as much space between them as the narrow seats would allow. Looking at his watch, there were only about 20 minutes until they were due to land. He stretched his legs out in front of him, pulled his book out from the bag under his seat and, flicking on the light above his seat, settled in to read. In reality, his eyes never moved from where they stared unfocused at the page. His brain was buzzing manically, flicking back and forth between thoughts of the man sleeping next to him and the prospect of the next few weeks. Would they find the treasure or not? Was this trip an entirely wasted venture? Magnus wasn’t sure about anything.

The cabin lights soon turned on and a voice came over the Tannoy announcing their arrival. Next to him, Alec let out an adorable, soft little moan as he shuffled himself awake. Magnus observed the soft lines of his face and the stubble decorating his jaw. His eyes were still half-closed, just a hint of that delicious hazel peeking through but still enough to make Magnus’ heart melt. Alec ran a hand through his messy hair, mussing it even further and sheepishly met Magnus’ eyes.

“Morning,” his voice was slightly hoarse from sleeping in the dry air of the cabin. “I hope I didn’t snore too loudly or do anything embarrassing in my sleep.”

“I’m sure you were the perfect gentleman, but I too was asleep.” Magnus diplomatically chose not to mention how he’d woken up, it would only complicate things should Alec get wind of his attraction.

They lapsed into silence, both pointedly avoiding the other’s gaze as the plane continued it’s descent.

They made it through their connection in Miami with relative ease and were soon on a small plane heading for Nassau. Magnus was able to keep the conversation on professional terms, hearing more about Alec’s research and the things he’d accomplished over the last several years. He filled Alec in on the various exhibitions he’d organised in his role as a museum curator. The conversation eventually drifted back to the journey they were currently embarking on.

“So you still haven’t told me how you found the treasure.”

“Because I _haven’t_ found it… yet,” Magnus winked. “In all seriousness though, it was pretty dry. I’d been invited to curate a specialized exhibition on the life of Raziel. At the opening of the exhibition, my friend Catarina introduced me to another specialist in the field, Lorenzo Rey.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Alec said, unable to contain his wince.

“Yes, quite.” Magnus agreed, amused that Lorenzo’s reputation had reached Alec. “He’s a slimy, arrogant, lizard of a man. But he also has access to the archives of the New York Institute. It took a couple of martinis and more ass-kissing than I care to admit, but I scored an invitation to peruse the information in the private collections contained at the Institute.”

Alec whistled quietly, his eyebrows raised slightly in a look of genuine surprise and respect. The New York Institute was one of the foremost historical archives in the world, its collections spanning millennia and the knowledge held within it comparable with the likes of the Smithsonian or the British Museum. Unlike those libraries, the Institute was an entirely private collection, not shared with the public. Alec had never met anyone who’d been invited to peruse their artefacts before!

“Wow Magnus, that’s every historian’s dream. It’d be like every Christmas come at once to get to explore their archives like that.”

“Yes, well, it came at the cost of spending time with Rey so… I’ll let you decide if that’s a price worth paying.”

Alec merely snorted at the insinuation before allowing Magnus to continue explaining how within the collections he had found references to several star charts and also missing pages from Raziel’s ship’s logs. Magnus had taken copies of all the documents and over the course of several months pieced together the location.

“But if Raziel’s star charts didn’t have the North Star then how can you be sure of the location of the treasure?”

“Raziel’s charts were instead based around a series of constellations. It was a bit more work, but I pieced together what he referred to on his charts to their modern-day equivalences and was able to calculate the destination of his final voyage - at least according to the ship’s log.”

“But how do you know you’ve found the correct island in that case?” Alec’s eyebrows were knitted together in concern. If the expression on his face was anything to go by he was clearly thinking that this would be an entirely wasted trip.

“Never fear Alexander, while my calculations may have some errors in them, I also cross-checked them with colleagues more specialised in cartography and astronomy. Not to mention that the charts indicate an island so isolated that there isn’t another landmass for 150 miles. I may not be a specialist in these things, but I refuse to accept that my calculations are more than a degree or two out in either direction. I’m confident.”

Alec merely hummed at him, one eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Look, if I’m wrong the worst that happens is I’ve wasted a lot of my late father’s money dragging a group of people I quite like halfway around the world to enjoy some Caribbean sunshine. Is that such an issue?”

“Well, the damage to your ego and the crushing disappointment that you’ve not achieved your life’s dream might be an issue?” Alec’s tone was light and teasing, but his eyes were darting around Magnus’ face, concern evident in the set of his lips.

Magnus chuckled, “Well if my critics in the industry are to be believed, my ego could use a bit of deflating.”

Alec’s answering hum told Magnus that he had at least one stalwart supporter in historical circles.

~~~

After they’d landed in Nassau and paid for a taxi to take them from the airport to the docks, they finally met Simon & Maia.

“Professor Lightwood,” Simon grinned at him, shucking a rucksack onto his shoulder so he could reach out to shake hands. “You look less tired already, not that you normally look tired but just, holiday mode suits you. You look relaxed, less stressed. Being out of the office is clearly good for you.” He trailed off from his rambling as Alec folded his arms across his chest and shot the young man a glare.

“Now Sherwin, how many times have I told you that this isn’t a holiday? We’re here to work.” Magnus scolded.

“You also talked a lot about rum and told me all the stories about dancing on the tables in Havana nightclubs, so that might have somewhat diluted the bit about this being hard work,” Simon grinned back at him. Magnus couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle his hair before turning to introduce Alec and Maia.

Maia was quick to get down to business, leading them off the street they’d met on and down the jetty where numerous boats were lined up, their various captains calling out offers of tours, diving excursions and passage to other nearby islands. Looking down at her clipboard Maia listed out the need to know information brusquely.

“We’ve already arranged transport out there with a man named Meliorn. We’ve got tents, sleeping bags and camp beds for each of us, plus a central marquee that we can use as a ‘base’. We have one generator which should do for powering lighting should we need it and also charging any equipment. We’ve confirmed we have enough fuel for said generator for four of us for the full duration of the trip. I’ve also arranged for the rental of a couple of spotlights which should be more than enough for any site we may need them for. Additionally, we have drinking water to last the duration of the trip - though Meliorn assures me that there is fresh spring water that is safe to drink on the island, it’s best not to take chances. We have a stockpile of rice and other non-perishables, including tinned fruit and vegetables. For protein, apparently our best bet is to just catch our own - fish are readily available in the shallows and I quote ‘ _even the nerd could catch enough to get by on’,_ ” she finished on a chuckle. “I think that’s the key information for now unless you have any questions?”

“No Maia, I think you’ve been quite thorough. Thank you,” Magnus clapped her on the shoulder.

She grinned up at him, “In which case, now you two are here we can be on our way. Everything is already loaded onto Meliorn’s trawler.”

She gestured towards a small boat which resembled many others in the harbour. The tin hull was painted a faded red colour and on the deck lounged a tan man in a black tank top and obnoxiously pink surf-shorts. His head was shaved around one ear, the rest of his hair falling in waves to his shoulders. He greeted them with a wave, rising from his deck chair.

“Hi, I’m Meliorn. I believe you want to head out to find some treasure?” he grinned, not a trace of mockery in his tone.

“Hopefully,” Magnus shook his outstretched hand before following Meliorn’s directions to stow his and Alec’s bags below deck, safe from any surf during the journey.

Meliorn led them over to where a map was pinned out, “This is the island you’d like to reach, yes?”

Magnus glanced down at the map before pulling out his phone and supplying the latitude and longitude to confirm their destination.

“Great stuff, in which case, make yourselves at home. It’s going to take about five hours to get to the island, maybe more if the weather changes. I knew I had passengers today though so there’s a couple of sun loungers in the storage crate over there if you want them.”

Magnus spent the majority of the journey laid out on a lounger, having exchanged his travel clothes for loose swim shorts and a comfy tank top. His sunglasses obscured his eyes, giving him free-reign to ogle Alec whenever the opportunity presented itself. OK, he wasn’t being the most professional but the man was incredibly attractive, so sue him.

Magnus observed the way Alec interacted with the others on the boat. While he was quietly reserved, especially around Simon, Alec was making an effort with both of their research assistants and with Meliorn. He spent much of the journey asking the latter an extensive range of questions about his life and how long he’d been in the Bahamas but also about their destination and the surrounding islands.

Meliorn was a knowledgeable guide, he had been living and working these waters for over fifteen years so had many tales to tell. He had apparently also visited their destination on numerous occasions, to get away from the bustle of the tourist towns on the main islands. The island they were heading for was completely uninhabited, save for the range of snakes, iguanas and insects they might encounter. Magnus was pleased to hear that there wasn’t anything poisonous or venomous on the island, but there were lots of bugs that would try to bite him. Good job he’d brought plenty of antihistamines and steroid cream. He always had the most hideous reactions to insect bites.

He must have dozed off in the warmth of the sun because the next thing he knew, he was interrupted from soft daydreams about strong arms and crinkle-eyed smiles by Simon’s excited shouting.

“That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Magnus sat up and lifted his sunglasses so he could get a clearer view over the side of the boat. There, rising up out of the ocean was a dramatic cliff face of dark rock. It must easily have been 30 meters high, if not more. Sloping down from the cliff edge was a bright canopy of trees, every shade of green cutting through to create a bright contrast against the glittering turquoise of the ocean. The trees cascaded down to the shoreline where a sliver of golden sand was just visible over the waves.

Magnus stood and joined the others, folding his arms over the railing at the bow of the boat.

“Home, sweet home,” he joked, nudging Alec with his shoulder.

Alec just grinned, a spark of excitement dancing in his eyes, which remained focussed on the view in front of them.

Magnus had seen pictures and satellite images of their destination, he had studied the few maps that existed but nothing had prepared him for the sight as they approached the island. It truly was a paradise. His eyes catalogued every detail, which as they drew closer and the island came more into focus was a lot to take in. From the vines winding up the tree trunks, set not far back from the shoreline to the brilliant reds and oranges of the flowers that grew around the base of the trees. It was a feast of colours and Magnus found himself thinking ‘ _Even if we don’t find anything, this island is worth visiting.’_

The boat slowed as they approached the shore, the crystal clear water lapping at the hull allowing them to keep a careful watch for any rocks that might cause trouble. In the shallows, shoals of brightly coloured fish darted around.

“Look, a turtle,” Simon exclaimed pointing at the creature that was skimming through the water, just below the surface.

A gentle crunch broke Magnus from his observations of the underwater vista, drawing his attention to the land. Meliorn gracefully vaulted over the railing beside him, carrying with him a large rope. He dragged it to the nearest tree and looped it round before knotting it securely.

“I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to get back to Nassau this side of midnight ideally so can we unload all your stuff as quickly as possible?” he asked.

Everyone agreed and got to work, pulling the luggage, crates and sacks from below deck. Anything that could be manhandled was thrown on to the beach, while the more delicate equipment was carefully lowered down to the sand below.

Once everything had been unloaded onto the beach Meliorn shook everyone’s hands and wished them well with their exploration. He gestured towards the treeline.

“If I were you, I would camp in the clearing a few meters back. It will be a pain to carry everything but it will be worth it to give you some shelter from any adverse weather. Not every day is glorious sunshine and gentle breezes,” he warned. “I’ll see you folks in six weeks, though if there’s any trouble before then, please give me a call and I’ll head on out to pick you up."

They waited on the beach until Meliorn had steered the trawler back out into the open waters. With one last wave goodbye, he kicked the engine into high gear and left a churning wake of water behind him.

“OK folks, let’s go find a campsite,” Magnus declared.

The group made their way towards the general area of treeline that Meliorn had pointed out to them before identifying an area that was slightly less overgrown. While still not a clear path by any means, they could pick their way through the undergrowth there easier.

It was only a few meters back that they came across the clearing Meliorn had mentioned. The space was about twenty meters in diameter and patchy with long grasses, deep green ferns and areas of dirt. Delicate purple flowers sprouted in amongst the grasses, breaking up the sea of greens and browns.

“This must be it!” Magnus spun with his arms stretched wide, his head tilted back, grinning upwards. The canopy of the trees gave them enough cover but there were gaps where swathes of brilliant blue poked through. “I don’t want to do too much damage to the ecosystem here, but we can clear a bit of space for the tents close to the treeline and we’ll want a fire pit but we can dig that here,” he gestured to one of the areas with no plant life.

“Great, I’m starving!” Simon declared, “Shall we drag all our stuff up here then we can make some dinner?”

“Excellent plan, Samuel.”

They cut back through the trees and started the long process of carrying their gear up to the clearing. Between the food, water and equipment, it was heavy work. After only a couple of trips, Magnus found himself being grateful that he’d changed into looser clothing on the boat. He paused, wiping the sweat from his brow and took a moment to appreciate the sight of Alec. Clad in black shorts which gripped at his thigh muscles and a shirt patterned with palm trees, he looked perfectly at home on the beach - just maybe not so ready for manual labour. He’d already undone the buttons of his shirt in a desperate bid to cool down, blushing adorably when Magnus had been unable to resist the temptation to wolf-whistle at him. What could he say? He was weak for a man with a strong muscular chest, especially covered in a smattering of dark hair.

Magnus squatted down to heave the next food sack onto his shoulder when he heard a soft thud close by. Turning on the spot, he saw Alec laying face down in the sand. Spluttering sand out of his mouth, the other man pressed himself up, momentarily distracting Magnus as he watched his biceps flex against the material of his cotton shirt. He stumbled back to his feet, his face flushed bright red, looking around to check for witnesses. Magnus couldn’t help but snort with laughter at the sand clinging to his sweaty features, in his beard and accentuating his usually expressive eyebrows.

“Are you ok?” he asked, still grinning because as far as he could tell Alec was fine. In a very strange way, the sandy appearance suited him, accentuating his strong jaw and almost making him glitter in the late afternoon sun.

Alec merely glared at him, dusting the sand off his palms.

Magnus couldn’t help himself, he broke out laughing again. The sight of Alec looking equal parts embarrassed and grumpy was quite frankly adorable. While his eyebrows were knitted together in frustration and his lips a thin, sand speckled line, his eyes were soft and sad.

Magnus sucked in a soft breath, halting his laughter as suddenly as it started. Stepping forwards, he reached out a hand and brushed the sand off Alec’s cheek. He ran his thumb over Alec’s eyebrow, dislodging the sand stuck to his sweaty brow. Alec’s features softened almost imperceptibly. Had Magnus not been close enough to count every eyelash, he might not have noticed. As it was, he found himself gazing into the depths of the other man’s eyes, entirely entranced. He reached his other hand up to brush the sand from Alec’s other cheek, carding up into his hair to shake loose the grains tangled there. Alec swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Magnus found himself rising up on the balls of his feet slightly, closing the distance between their faces. His hands cupping Alec’s face, it would be all too easy to close the remaining gap and kiss him until he smiled again.

At that realisation he took a swift step back, maybe kissing Alec would make him smile, but it would only cause the other man more hurt. And then they’d be stuck here for six weeks together dealing with the awkwardness of Magnus trying to come on to someone against their wishes. Or Alec could use one of the satellite phones and get a boat from Nassau to come to pick him up, leaving Magnus to deal with the judgement of Maia and Simon. No, that would be even worse. While it was clear to Magnus now that his feelings towards Alec were more than just a physical attraction, the look he was receiving was one of confusion and made it quite clear that the other man didn’t understand or welcome what had just happened.

“We should, uh,” he gestured towards the remaining items on the beach and then towards the jungle.

“Yes, we should,” Alec murmured back, still looking wary as he ran his hand through his stubble to shuck off the remaining sand.

Magnus turned on his heel, grabbing the nearest crate and hurried towards the trees. Maybe this trip had been a terrible idea after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK so maybe I wrote in an entire scene about [THIS](https://www.instagram.com/p/B3FkMWVHZFF/) Instagram post by Matthew Daddario. Don't @ me...
> 
> Or, well, if you do want to @ me... I can be found on Twitter at [Notquiteascrazy](https://twitter.com/notquiteascrazy)


	5. Chapter 5

By the time the tents had been set up in a loose semicircle under the shelter of the trees and the central marquee was constructed, everyone was exhausted. It had been a busy day of preparation and travel so by mutual assent they all called it a night almost immediately after dinner had been made and eaten.

Alec lay alone, trying to settle in his sleeping bag. It wasn't that his camp bed wasn't comfortable, it was perfectly fine for sleeping on. It was just that he was still mortified from earlier. How could he have been so clumsy?

And then he'd gotten so flustered by Magnus' kindness. OK so he'd been laughed at a bit. But then Magnus had stopped laughing when he'd seen how much it was denting Alec's pride. He still couldn't work out what the look Magnus had given him could even mean.

He pressed a palm to his face. He couldn't afford to think like this. They had weeks together on this island and as much as Simon and Maia would distract him, he was sure if he didn't keep his thoughts in check he would snap and do something wholly unprofessional. He had to remember this could impact his reputation, this could put his career at risk. No one would trust him to teach again if the second he went on a research trip he sexually harassed his colleague/boss!

He turned onto his side, trying to focus on the purpose of the trip. Reminding himself that this was a good opportunity to break out of the classroom and get some field experience. Field experience with Magnus. Experiencing Magnus.

No, it was no good. His brain was clearly on a single track this evening and he really needed to get out of his own head quickly. Grabbing his head torch, he made his way quietly out of the tent, intending to wander down to the beach to get some peace. 

A soft voice in the darkness startled him, "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Maia asked. 

Alec blinked until his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he could just make her out, sitting against a tree at the edge of the space they'd made camp in. 

"No, jet lag I guess," Alec shrugged at her. Despite her likely not being able to see the gesture. "How about you?" 

"I just don't really sleep at all anymore," she sounded weary, and not just in the bone tired way that a day of hot sun and physical labour would likely cause. 

"Magnus mentioned you needed the break away," Alec said. Trying to keep his tone light and not prying, while also encouraging his new colleague that this could be a safe space.

"Yeah, it's been a strange year. Maybe this will be my opportunity to reset." 

Alec smiled, again knowing the gesture would go unnoticed.

"I'm sure it will. If nothing else, we should get some interesting stories out of this trip. Magnus will make sure of that," he chuckled. 

"Oh yes, I have no doubt!" Maia’s voice sounded less melancholy now, the topic change clearly suiting her. "What is it with you two anyway?" 

"We studied together, back in the day," Alec shrugged. "Not much to tell, we haven't really had much contact in the last few years but I guess Magnus remembered how much I enjoyed the mystery behind Raziel’s treasure, so he brought me along for the ride." 

"Sure, he only invited you because you love the mystery," her tone carried a teasing edge. "And you only agreed for the _mystery_ I assume?" 

"The mystery and the experience. I've been cooped up in a classroom with my head in textbooks for so long that it was a good opportunity to get away." 

"As historians, isn't hiding in classrooms our MO?" 

"True, but I've always lived this way. Even at university." Alec grimaced. "I guess this is just my way of finally taking a risk or two." 

"Well I hope it pays off," Maia said before they lapsed into companionable silence.

The wind rustled through the trees, a gentle breeze on the warm air. Despite being the middle of the night, the temperature was still comfortable. Alec forced himself to relax the muscles in his shoulders and neck, rolling his head from side to side and focusing on each muscle group individually. He used the sounds of waves lapping at the shoreline, drifting in from the nearby beach, to settle his breathing. In and out, he matched the pace of his breaths to the flow of the tide.

The conversation with Maia had helped remind him why he was here. It wasn't just about Magnus, though he would admit to himself that Magnus' presence had been a deciding factor. He was also here for himself. To break away from the box he’d built for himself, to do something just for himself, away from the shadow of his siblings. He loved them dearly but this was his first real time apart from his family, to discover who Alexander Gideon Lightwood really was when he wasn't Professor Lightwood or the overprotective big brother.

Separating these thoughts from his attraction to Magnus helped. He could acknowledge that Magnus was physically attractive, kind, funny and intelligent, all characteristics Alec looked for in a partner, while acknowledging that this trip was about more than a companion. He felt himself relaxing, the anxious thoughts in his brain quietening to an ignorable hum. Yawning, he stood, dusting the dirt off his palms and shorts simultaneously. 

"I think I'm going to try to get some sleep, tomorrow will be a big day," he said. 

"Goodnight Alec, thank you for the company," Maia’s tone was sincere, which surprised him. He felt he'd mostly been antisocial, allowing the conversation to die out and losing himself in his own thoughts. 

Laying back down in his tent, he rolled over and almost instantly fell asleep. 

~~~

The next morning he awoke with the sun. Bleary eyed, he made his way out of the tent, looking over to the tree he'd propped himself against the previous night with Maia. He could make out the scuffles in the dirt where they'd both been sat but he was pleased to see the young woman had clearly gone to get some rest at some point in the night. 

Looking around he noted that all his companion’s tents were still zipped closed, meaning they were likely still asleep. He leaned back into his own tent, grabbing his towel and decided to make his way down to the beach for a morning swim. It would allow him to shuck away the dirt and stickiness he felt from sleeping up in a warm tent and the exercise would wake his muscles, still aching from the combination of multiple flights followed by heavy lifting.

Once he got to the beach, he stripped out of his shirt, leaving it with his towel on the sand and waded into the sea until the water reached his knees. Breathing in deeply, he felt a sense of peace that he had never managed to achieve in the bustle of New York City. He took a few moments to enjoy the sensation of the cool water lapping at his legs under the warmth of the early morning sun before crouching and pushing forward in a steady breast stroke. Once he was far enough out to sea that his feet were no longer scraping along the sand he turned and began swimming parallel to the shore, not wanting to drift too far out for fear of unpredictable currents. As he swam the stiffness in his shoulders began to fade, leaving him rejuvenated by the feel of the ocean against his skin. The sweat and sand from the previous day washed away by the gentle waves.

He swam for what felt like a reasonable amount of time - it could have been half an hour, it could have been four hours, it was hard to relate to actual time in the perfect tranquility - before he made his way back to shore. As he stood, brushing the wet hair back from his forehead, his attention was captured by a quiet whistle. Squinting against the sun, he felt his face flame as he looked up to catch Magnus leaning casually against a tree observing him.

“Well good morning to you, Alexander,” Magnus smiled at him, straightening up and making his way down the beach to meet Alec halfway. “When you didn’t appear from your tent this morning to tell Simon to hush with his incessantly cheery singing I realised you must have already started your day, and here you are!” Magnus sounded entirely pleased with his discovery, as if finding Alec was the solution to a puzzle he’d been poring over.

“Here I am,” Alec rubbed his hair dry with his towel feeling awkward but unsure why.

“I hope you’ve worked up an appetite, Simon made breakfast!”

They made their way back to camp and settled down to eat breakfast with Simon and Maia, all the while enjoying pleasant small talk. Once breakfast was over, they set about tidying up their camp and organising themselves. The previous day’s exhaustion had meant that all their equipment and supplies had been somewhat abandoned in a pile under the marquee they had constructed. They separated items into cooking, day to day supplies and those that may be required during their search for the treasure.

Alec was busy organising their ‘base camp’ when he spotted Magnus attaching something to the outside of the marquee. Stepping outside he groaned.

“Really, Magnus?”

“We are on the hunt for pirate’s treasure Alexander, it’s only appropriate,” Magnus cried, outraged at Alec’s derisive tone.

Hanging from one of the support poles was an adaptation on the Jolly Roger, a stark black background providing contrast to the bright colours of the skull and cross bones design - striped in three distinct bands of pink, purple and blue.

“The bisexual flag merged with a pirate flag? That might be the most extra thing I’ve ever seen!” Alec groaned.

“I’m impressed that you know how to use the word ‘ _extra’._ You clearly listen to the kids you teach!” Magnus teased, causing Alec to glare at him. “And anyway, pirates were incredibly inclusive… Lost your leg? Peg-leg. Lost your hand? No problem, that’s what hooks were made for. It’s only natural that they would be as accepting of different sexualities.”

“Well of course, all the research and accounts show that to be the case. But that’s beside the point, do we really have to be this dramatic?”

“You have met me before, right, Alexander?” Magnus questioned, his eyebrow raised in challenge.

“Hmmm,” Alec crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrow back.

“I’m funding this trip, I’ll hang the damn flag if I want to,” Magnus stated.

Alec groaned, but accepted defeat. He returned to sifting through the crates in the marquee, muttering under his breath about how ridiculous the entire situation was.

Once everything was as organised as they were going to get, the team gathered round the fold-out table in the centre of the marquee. Magnus brought out a binder from a storage crate labelled “reference material” in big, black letters and began extracting documents and papers from it, distributing them across the table.

“So this is a satellite image of the island, as you can tell it’s extremely helpful to know that the island is almost entirely covered in trees,” he explained, voice dripping in sarcasm.

Alec peered over and snorted, he wasn’t kidding! The entire image was green and pixelated, barring a small sliver of sandy beach that circled three quarters of the island, the remaining north face Alec presumed was the cliffs they’d observed yesterday from the boat.

“This topographical map should be more useful, however.” Magnus laid out the document in question. “As you can see, the majority of the island is still jungle, however, according to this we should be able to reach the cliff tops with a bit of a hike. There is also a body of water and river which in theory is about half a mile…” Magnus spun briefly, lips pursed before pointing into the trees, “thattaways.”

He continued pulling out documents and laying them out for the others to see.

“These are copies of extracts from the ship’s logs, the first mate’s diaries and most exclusively, letters penned by Raziel himself. There’s varying levels of detail in each. None of them are more specific about the location of the treasure, however the closest we have to a clue is a phrase in this letter to one of Raziel’s many paramores,” Magnus gestured to the paper in question. “In amongst the sickly sweet prose, Raziel claims ‘ _My gifts are safe, guarded by the one who runs forever yet never moves at all. He has no lungs nor throat but his mighty roar is fearsome._ ’ If any of you have any thoughts as to what that means, I’m all ears.”

“I didn’t realise lions were native to the Caribbean?” Simon exclaimed, earning himself a gentle smack to the back of the head from Maia.

“Lions have lungs _and_ throats, idiot,” she grinned at him.

“I know that. I also know there aren’t wild lions in the tropics,” he rubbed at the back of his head defensively.

Alec tuned out the bickering, racking his brain to try to understand the cryptic phrasing. While he prided himself on his intelligence, he was better at identifying patterns in human behaviour and drawing conclusions across multiple historical sources than he was at solving riddles.

“Anyway, we can ponder on this more later. How about we start looking around our new home?” Magnus asked.

Excited to see more of the island, they all hurried to get ready, Maia sensibly grabbing a rucksack and filling it with a couple of bottles of water and some granola bars.

“I get the feeling Simon will be more irritating if he gets hungry, he’s got the temperament of a toddler,” she grinned at Alec’s impressed nod.

“Hey,” Simon exclaimed. Maia merely responded by sticking her tongue out at him.

After a little discussion, they decided to make their way along the beach to begin with as this would be the first area Raziel and his crew would have seen when they arrived on the island. It was unlikely the treasure would be hidden in too easy a place but it felt like a sensible place to start.

The group picked their way back to the beach, the path already easier to navigate following their multiple trips the previous day. Alec tried not to dwell too much on the impact their presence would be having on the island’s vegetation. They would only be here a few weeks then the island would be left uninhabited again to recover. They would just have to be careful to minimise the damage where possible.

“Left or right?” Magnus questioned.

“Right will take us to the base of the cliffs, so I vote we start with that,” Alec pointed out.

After murmurs of assent from the group, they started to make their way up the beach.

While the beach where they had arrived the previous day was soft, golden sands, as they moved further towards the cliffs, the ground became increasingly rocky. They picked their way across the rocks, moving carefully to avoid rolling their ankles or falling over. Alec in particular found himself trying hard not to repeat the previous day’s performance. 

As they approached the base of the cliff, the rocks littering the ground grew in size, some of them smoothed by the waves and the wind, others more jagged and broken having recently fallen from the cliff face. The tree line behind them sloped up away from the beach, with hardy ferns and vines draping down obscuring the rockface that seemed to burst from the earth. 

Maia crouched to inspect a tide pool which had formed amongst the rocks. Her face lit up in a smile as she observed the creatures in there.

“Cool,” Simon whispered, almost speechless by the sight in front of him. Under normal circumstances Alec would be tempted to mock him for being a dork, but in this instance, Alec was as equally spellbound. The rock pool was home to a starfish as big as his hand, as well as several spiky anemone type creatures. He’d seen animals like these before, but only in aquariums, never outside a tank. Without murky glass, smeared by the greasy hands of children, the animals were even more vibrant and beautiful to look at.

Establishing that there was nothing more to be found on this side of the island, at least not without some digging, the group made their way back the way they came. By this point, the sun was high in the sky and despite the breeze coming in from the ocean, the group was still feeling the impact of the intense heat.

“Should we maybe head into the trees and explore more of this side of the island? The beach might be best left to early morning or evening exploration?” Alec suggested, feeling a trickle of sweat running down his spine and making him squirm.

Magnus, who looked by far the least affected by the heat of anyone in the group, glanced around at his companions before agreeing.

“Into the jungle it is!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These boys are clearly too distracted by each other to work out where the treasure could possibly be hidden... I'm sure they'll work it out at some point though. Maybe.
> 
> Thanks for reading - your lovely comments have been making my day!
> 
> 🧡🧡🧡


	6. Chapter 6

“Let’s avoid the uphill bit, my calves still haven’t forgiven me for yesterday,” Simon groaned, as they made their way through the trees.

Magnus glanced back at the younger man with an eyebrow raised. While to outward appearances Simon might look like the scrawny nerd type, Magnus suspected he was in fact in pretty great shape. The day before he’d been lugging sacks of rice and heavy crates like they were feather-light. Still, they had plenty of time to explore so they may as well not completely torture themselves on day one.

They pushed through trees & bushes, being cautious to take the least dense path to avoid causing too much unnecessary damage.

“Watch your step, the animals on this island probably aren’t used to too many humans around,” Maia warned quietly.

The light filtered down through the trees, allowing them to see their surroundings but everything was bathed in an ethereal green hue. Above them, every shade imaginable intermingled together, from brilliant emeralds to deep mossy shades to those with a yellowish tinge. Adding to the immense beauty of the nature around them were the flowers, some growing from the ground some from the trees themselves. Spectacular shades of reds, oranges and pinks, as well as vibrant purple blossoms cut through giving the area an otherworldly appearance.

Magnus carefully eased a leaf the size of a dinner plate out of the way, gently manoeuvring it back so he could step around the tree that bore it. Alec, who was following him, reached forward to hold the leaf back as well as he followed in Magnus’ footsteps.

A few seconds later Magnus heard a startled cry, followed by a frustrated “ _Simon”_. Clearly, the young man had failed to warn Maia of the leaf and had instead allowed it to ping back to hit her in the face.

She looked indignant as she wiped the dew from the leaf’s surface off her face.

Magnus chuckled to himself but carried on his way - they were both adults and could settle it amongst themselves.

Inhaling deeply, the smell of slightly damp earth filled his nostrils and gave him an overall sense of the remoteness of their location. OK, he could still hear Simon and Maia bickering and the quiet breaths of Alec behind him, but he could tune that out to focus on the quiet song of birds that he couldn’t quite see echoing down from the treetops and the gentle running of water somewhere in the distance.

“Hush a minute,” he gestured behind him to his companions. When they’d ceased their noise and movement he could focus more on the sound of the water. Identifying the direction, he corrected his course slightly to find the source of the sound.

The ground beneath their feet became soggy as they moved through the trees and the undergrowth gave way to clearer ground for them to walk through. Each step splashed mud up the back of Magnus’ calves but he didn’t mind so much - it was cooling after trekking through the jungle.

Movement caught Magnus’ eye as a frog leaped from tree to tree, its luminous green skin and bright eyes a contrast to the dark bark its webbed feet stuck to.

The trees soon broke to reveal a gentle river cutting through the jungle, its waters appearing murky in the shade of the trees.

They moved along the bank of the river, following the water upstream until the river opened out to a beautiful pool of water. Almost exactly circular and approximately 20 meters wide, the water was deep blue in colour. A rockface cut through the jungle with jagged precision, the harsh lines of the dark stone a contrast to the large smooth leaves that littered the ground. Huge ferns sprouted from the mud, their leaves arching over the surface of the water. 

A waterfall fell over the rockface, tumbling into the lagoon beneath creating spray which shimmered in the sunlight, rainbows glistening instantaneously from droplets and sparkling through the air.

Magnus only had to observe the scene for a few moments before reaching the inevitable conclusion that he absolutely needed to see if the water felt as divine as it looked. Toeing off his shoes, he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped them in a pile on a nearby rock and, without sparing a glance to his companions, waded out into the water.

He released a happy sigh at the feeling of the cool liquid against his hot skin. He turned to face the edge of the lagoon before leaning back and sinking his shoulders underwater, arms stretched wide. He floated there, not moving a muscle with his eyes closed and a wide grin stretching his face, letting the gentle waves from the waterfall rock him as he felt all the tension seep from his body.

After a few minutes he opened one eye to see the others standing on the edge of the lagoon looking at him as if he’d fully lost his mind.

“Come on in guys, the water is lovely,” he encouraged.

“You have no clue what’s in there or if it’s even safe!” Simon’s voice was high pitched and concerned, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.

“Didn’t Maia say there was safe drinking water on the island? This is the first water we’ve found. I’m sure it’s fine.” Magnus was far too relaxed to take the young man’s panic seriously in any way. He continued to float until he realised that they were still just watching him. He raised his head from the water, opening his eyes to fix them with his best ‘ _really_ ’ stare, arching his eyebrow to emphasise his point. “Look, the water is cool and clear. Nothing is nibbling at my toes yet. You’re the ones who are crazy for not joining me.”

He relaxed back, shrugging his shoulders despite the movement likely being lost to the gentle rippling of the water’s surface. It was only a few moments later that he was joined by Alec. Peeking to one side he marvelled at the strong shoulders and back glistening in the light breaking through the trees.

Simon and Maia barely waited before they were also removing their shoes and wading in to join them in the cool water.

Simon groaned as he ducked under the water. “OK, you were right. Even if there are piranhas that will eat me alive, it’ll be worth it!”

~~~

Over the next few days, they got into a routine - starting their days with a swim in the lagoon to wake up and clean off the sticky feeling that sleeping in a tent in this heat inevitably left them all with. They would then set off to explore the island further. After the first day’s wanderings, they’d spent the evening poring over the map and deciding that they needed to be more organised with their exploration.

By mutual agreement, they began working through the southern sections of the island first, where the terrain was flatter and thus easier to navigate. They’d start on the beach in the morning, moving into the shade of the trees as the sun reached its peak in the sky. Then they’d work through the jungle in rough sections, trying to stick loosely to the grids on their maps despite no one having any experience in navigation. Come evening, they would make their way back to the beach to wander back to camp as the tide retreated and the sun set.

It was in these moments that Magnus was at his most content. While they were almost through their first week on the island and had so far discovered nothing to suggest the treasure was indeed here, the evenings were proving to be the most enjoyable time.

He’d gathered together this group knowing that the mix of personalities would balance each other out. While he and Simon were very much on the outgoing and excitable side, Maia and Alec both brought a level of rational, calm introspection to the group. He knew they both would let their guard down and enjoy themselves at the right time but he’d needed them to balance out his ability to get carried away and help keep them on some semblance of plan. So far, his expectations for how this would work had been far surpassed. They’d fallen into a rhythm of working as a team more seamlessly than he could have predicted. And so far, Alec hadn’t seemed to get too aggravated by Simon’s presence, despite his initial reservations. In fact, Alec was the most relaxed Magnus had ever seen him. Well, the most relaxed he’d ever seen him sober. There were a couple of parties he could recall where Alec had fully let his guard down but he definitely wouldn’t remind him of those - it would almost certainly make him shut himself off again. Magnus was enjoying watching him interact with the others and the interactions he was having himself. It was a bonus that he still got to make Alec blush at least three times a day. Even the most innocent of innuendos would set his face aflame in the most delightful way.

“What’s got you so lost in thought?” Alec asked, nudging his shoulder against Magnus’ to catch his attention.

“Just feeling very thankful right now,” Magnus responded with a soft smile.

Alec didn’t push for more detail, just allowed Magnus his time to think. To consider how to put into words the feelings that were threatening to overwhelm him.

Up the beach he could vaguely hear Maia and Simon messing around in the surf, kicking water at each other. He hadn’t realised how much he’d slowed down he was so lost in his own thoughts. But Alec had waited with him. Alec, the man with the patience of a saint, who’s put his life in New York on pause to travel to this island with him. Alec who looked the picture of peace right now. Sneakers in hand, walking just at the shoreline with the waves occasionally lapping at his ankles. Magnus didn’t have to pretend very hard to see this as just the two of them, on a romantic trip together, the sun fading to pink in the sky, reflecting off the surf. He shook himself slightly and smiled up at Alec.

“I just, I made something of myself. Something that went against everything my father wanted for me. And when he died, I guess I expected to feel some relief. And I didn’t.” He ran his hand through his hair, turning out to stare out to sea. “I didn’t feel anything if I’m honest. And I suppose that’s to be expected. Asmodeus wasn’t exactly a father figure after all, I had Ragnor for that. But the fact that I’ve managed to turn his passing into something that means something? That I’ve taken what he left me and used it for something for me? That means something. That means something really big. And you’re here, sharing this ‘ _something_ ’ with me. I can’t begin to put into words how grateful I am to have you by my side.” He breathed deeply, the weight of his confession hanging in the air. “And Maia and Simon of course.”

“Of course,” Alec agreed, his voice low.

Magnus looked up at him, trying to decipher what Alec had interpreted from his words but the other man’s face was entirely unreadable as he gazed out into the sunset. They stood there until the sounds of Maia and Simon’s laughter entirely disappeared, no longer carried by the breeze.

“We should head back to camp,” Magnus suggested, barely resisting the urge to reach out and take Alec’s hand.

They continued to walk up the beach in silence, the wet sand squishing between Magnus’ toes making him feel young and free. It was strange when he thought about it, he was only here because of his father’s money. Asmodeus had never done anything in life to make Magnus feel anywhere near the way he’d inadvertently made him feel in death. It had been over six months since it happened and Magnus still hadn’t fully processed his feelings around his father’s passing. It wasn’t that he was grieving, it was more that he was feeling confused about whether he should grieve. 

His father used to accuse him of being selfish, arrogant and uncaring for not wanting to follow in the ‘family business’ of making dubious deals and praying on the gullible to make money. He’d tell him about how he was besmirching the family name by following a fantasy, that he’d never amount to anything and end up penniless and starving. Well, his father had ended up bitter and alone, at least Magnus assumed as much given he’d had to leave everything to a son he cared so little for. More fool him.

And being in this paradise, using his father’s money for something purely for himself, being selfish for what felt like the first time in forever? That felt good.

~~~

“OK, we can’t avoid it any longer. We need to find out what’s on top of the cliffs,” Magnus declared over breakfast about a week later. They’d explored everything the southern half of the island had to offer and had so far found nothing to even hint at the presence of pirates, let alone the treasure’s location. Admittedly, there had been a couple of centuries and probably more than a couple of tropical storms to change the landscape since Raziel would have set foot here.

Simon groaned and dropped his head dramatically forward on the table in front of him.

“Relax, Stephen. You can stay here if you want to,” Magnus offered.

Simon just continued to grumble under his breath as they tidied up their breakfast things and packed bags of water and snacks, getting ready for their day.

They set off into the jungle, and very soon found themselves moving up a steep incline. It was slow moving, despite the trees sheltering them from the worst of the midday sun, the humidity was claustrophobic. Magnus was grateful for the tree roots littering the ground, giving him ample footholds in amongst the slippy floor littered with fallen leaves and mud.

He focussed on his breathing, watching the ground to find his footing and occasionally heaving himself along using bits of tree and undergrowth where the ground was too steep or the footing felt less stable. No one spoke, they were all too busy concentrating on the climb. Despite the burn in his calves and the exhaustion he could feel washing over him, he could understand why people did this for fun. He’d never considered himself particularly outdoorsy, preferring instead to get his exercise through a combination of exuberant dancing and more meditative yoga or tai-chi depending on his mood. The hike felt like it was healing his soul - something he hadn’t even realised he had needed.

As they broke through the trees at the top of the hill they were treated to the glorious sight of the sun glistening off the deep blue of the sea. There wasn’t another landmass as far as the eye could see. The sound of the waves crashing against the cliff face below them drifted up as they waded through the tall grass towards the cliff edge.

“Careful,” Maia warned, “you don’t know how stable the ground will be.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Magnus responded breezily, “This island has stood for thousands of years, I’m sure it’ll stand for a thousand more!”

“Hmm, sure. All I’m saying is landslides happen,” Maia said, her arms folded over her chest as she maintained a respectable distance from the cliff edge.

Alec didn’t seem to agree with her though, he had already moved to the very edge and was staring out to sea, eyes squinting in the sun. Sometime during the hike he’d seen fit to remove his shirt and had wrapped a bandana around his head, presumably to stop his hair plastering itself to his forehead in the sticky heat. He looked a mess, like they all did after struggling through the trees. But Alec pulled it off in a way Magnus was pretty sure no human should be allowed to. He was resigning himself to the fact that in any given situation, he would just find Alec to be the most beautiful thing he could lay his eyes on. Even surrounded by some of the most exquisite scenery Magnus had been lucky enough to see in his life, Alec still outshone it all.

The problem Magnus had was that he was getting to know Alec even better. Sure, they’d studied together and he’d known him well enough to bring him along. But every interaction with Alec since they’d arrived had just cemented the fact that he was perfect in Magnus’ mind. Sure, he was stubborn and grumpy at times, but he was also generous and thoughtful. He cared about the little things, from not stepping on the tiny crabs scuttling on the beach to making sure that Simon, however annoying he found the young assistant, remembered his sunscreen every morning. When they’d relax back at camp in the evening, occasionally passing around a bottle of spirits or a couple of beers, Alec would listen intently to everything the other’s wanted to share, his eyes holding steady to whoever was speaking at any given time. Magnus knew deep down that every word they had shared had been filed away and that Alec would treasure their stories. That’s just who he was. And it was making it entirely impossible for Magnus to avoid falling for him.

They wandered the top of the cliffs until the sun reached its peak in the sky. There were fewer trees up here though the ones that did grow seemed to tower even higher over the jungle below, whether due to the height of the land or them actually being taller. The bushes and the grasses on the other hand were shorter, beaten down by the weather seemingly. They paused for lunch, taking shelter in the shade of a tree to eat and drink.

Magnus pulled out the map he’d taken to carrying around in his rucksack and smoothed it out on the ground in front of them.

“I think, based on the terrain, that there is unlikely to be anything worth exploring here,” he gestured to the area between where they’d walked up this morning and the waterfall they’d found a few days prior. “But according to this, the east side of the cliffs should be less steep so I think we should make our way back down that way and then loop round the beach to get back to camp.”

“If it’s less steep, why didn’t we come up that way?” Simon groused.

“One, that side of the island gets more sun in the mornings. Even with the shade of the trees I thought it wasn’t worth the risk. Two, I figured it would be safer trying to get down the less steep of the two.” Magnus ticked them off on his fingers as he counted. “Three, because I said so.”

They packed their belongings back up and followed the line of the cliffs until they found a break in the trees to begin their descent. Magnus found himself taking even more care with his footing on the way down - seeing how far he would fall should he stumble and knowing all the obstacles he would hit was making him even less sure footed. He moved from tree to tree, his pace being increased by gravity and causing his heart rate to rise slightly in anticipation of the moment he would inevitably fall.

He was busy calculating just how many trees he would bounce off if he were to fall at that moment when his foot slipped on a loose leaf on the ground and he began to slide downhill, arms flailing in an undignified fashion.

“Whoa there,” Alec said, grabbing his elbow and slowing him to a stop. Alec had one arm looped around a tree trunk to steady himself as he pulled Magnus upright. “You ok?” His eyebrows were knitted together as he looked Magnus up and down, concern exuding from his hazel eyes.

“Fine,” Magnus gritted out, feeling his face heat with embarrassment. “Thanks for the catch.”

“Anytime,” Alec grinned at him. “Think you can make it down the rest of the way without falling over?”

Magnus just stuck his tongue out petulantly in lieu of an actual answer. But the rest of the way down the hill he was much more careful with his footing, sighing with relief when they finally reached the safety of the beach.

“Hey, we’ve not been on this part of the beach at low tide before have we?” Maia questioned, her back to the group as she looked out towards where the cliffs met the sea.

“I don’t think so, why?” Magnus turned to follow her line of sight and whistled, “Oh!”

“Oh indeed,” Maia grinned back at him. “Want to check it out?”

“Of course,” Magnus practically skipped up the beach towards where a rocky path led around the edge of the cliff face. At high tide, it would be obscured by the waves but now, a flat section of rock a couple of meters wide led around the corner and out of sight. It could be nothing of course, but Magnus could feel it in his bones that it wasn’t. This had to lead to something, how could it not?!

They followed the newly revealed path round until they reached a large opening in the cliff face, over 10 meters wide and several meters high. Water filled the entrance to the cave but the path they were following continued to bend into the inlet. Magnus bounced up on the balls of his feet, a grin splitting his face and his heart rate increasing, this time not from fear.

“I think this could be it,” he whispered, barely daring to say it aloud.

“Lead the way then,” Alec grinned back at him, his eyes sparkling with joy.

The cave was big and spacious and, while less bright than outside, well lit by the light from the entrance. They could see crates stacked up on rocky ledges towards the rear, with burnt out stubs of candles and wax drips littered around the place. Magnus had to resist the urge to run straight in there.

He reached the first crate and knocked the dust and sand from the top. A stamp on the lid bore the customs mark of the Port of Nassau, dated 1703. He lifted the lid to find dry straw which almost disintegrated at his touch. Rifling through he pulled out a bottle of rum which he held up to the light to inspect. The bottle itself was in pristine condition, though the label was illegible. The wax seal holding the cork in place appeared to never have been broken.

“Well, looks like we have something to celebrate with tonight then!” he declared, placing the bottle down and moving on to the next container.

Alec, Maia and Simon hurried forward and began opening crates of their own. Each turned out to contain multiple bottles of seemingly the same rum.

“So do you think this is it then? Is this Raziel’s treasure?” Simon asked.

“I’m not sure,” Magnus admitted, his words slow and careful. “It is certainly a very stereotypically pirate-y hiding place. But I don’t think it matches the clue.”

“All these crates also pre-date Raziel by up to a century,” Alec pointed out. “While generally people did reuse useful items like containers back in the 18th and 19th century, I’m not sure he would have stored everything in 100 year old crates. It’s more likely that we found the stash of some rum runners from before Raziel’s time.”

Magnus felt his face fall as disappointment washed over him. He collapsed back against a rocky ledge and sighed. Of course it was too good to be true. Though he was glad to find out Raziel’s gifts weren’t anything as mundane as alcohol, it was still a blow to think that they hadn’t actually found the treasure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wait? Did you think it would be that easy????
> 
> Thank you for reading - all your comments have been bringing me so much joy! 💛💛💛


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a heads up, this is where the tag warning for "mentions of past abuse" will come into play. It's relatively light touch but I hope I've handled this respectfully. If this will be triggering for you, I would skip from the question “Do you know how Magnus and I met?” and if you do a search for "let’s see what Simon’s singing for us this morning" you should be able to pick up from there safely.

The long days of hiking and exploring were wiping them all out. They’d find themselves retiring for the night not long after the sun would set. While the others would sleep in past the sunrise, Alec found himself waking long before the rest of the group. He’d got used to the routine though, accepting that he could survive on a few hours of sleep. He was sure that his tired, cranky demeanour was probably not appreciated by the rest of the group but there wasn’t much he could do about it. His brain was wired. This was the longest he’d gone since his undergraduate degree without an academic project to focus on and the stupid riddle of where the treasure was buried, while seemingly impossible to solve, wasn’t taxing enough to distract him from his frustrations.

They’d been here for almost four weeks now. Four weeks of traipsing through the jungle, day in day out. Four weeks of Magnus’ exuberant insistence that they were in the right place, that he could ‘ _feel the treasure_ ’, that it must be nearby. Four weeks of Simon singing irritating songs as he pottered around camp. Songs that inevitably would wedge themselves firmly in Alec’s head for hours and hours afterwards, sometimes sticking with him until the next day when Simon would sing something new and hellish to replace it. It hadn’t been so bad to begin with but after the discovery of the rum and the disappointment that brought along with it, things had felt particularly tough.

At first, Magnus had retreated in on himself quite a lot, becoming short-tempered with all of them. Though that could have had something to do with drinking the loot they’d found. At several centuries old, who knew just how strong that stuff was. The first morning after they’d made the discovery, Alec had woken up with a dry mouth and pounding headache wondering if that was what death would feel like. They’d all been rather delicate that day and no further island exploration had occurred. Instead, they’d made their way to the lagoon and floated aimlessly trying to wash away the hangovers. From then on they’d taken it a bit easier on the rum. Well, Simon, Maia and Alec had. Magnus had continued to drink until he passed out every evening for a week.

It took Alec cracking and yelling at him to get his shit together before he finally snapped out of his funk. Alec understood that Magnus was frustrated but this was his expedition. He was meant to be a leader and leaders couldn’t falter like this. If Magnus didn’t hold it together, how were the rest of them meant to maintain any level of enthusiasm for their work?

And so, after a heart to heart, Magnus had slowed down his rum consumption and instead approached the exploration with a renewed vigour. Frankly, it was exhausting. Every day he was dragging them back to areas they’d already explored, covering the same ground over and over again.

“We just need to look at it with fresh eyes, pretend you’re seeing it for the first time,” he’d encourage them. Honestly Alec was impressed he hadn’t hit him yet when he’d start his motivational speech bullshit.

It also didn’t help that even despite his irritating demeanour, so much time spent with Magnus had him frustrated to the point of breaking. It had got to the point where every friendly wink or silly innuendo was enough to leave Alec feeling turned on and flustered. And all by someone who was just being friendly. His nerves were shot and he was barely holding it together. Of course, it was an issue he could take care of himself, but he found it awkward knowing that there were just a few sheets of canvas between him and Magnus. Plus they shared a camp with two young research assistants. So no matter how worked up he was by Magnus’ presence, no matter how tempted he was to relieve some of that tension, when it came down to it he’d freak himself out and lose any interest in such activities. So yes, he was pretty sexually frustrated too.

He felt bad that the others had to deal with this side of him but there wasn’t much he could do. He tried to release some of the pent up energy using exercise, taking advantage of the few hours before anyone else woke up to swim until his body ached and until his thoughts were consumed by the cramp in his muscles.

This morning, he’d chosen to swim in the sea rather than the lagoon. While the salt water stung his eyes and left him feeling more dehydrated than refreshed, some days he just needed the movement of the waves and the fish darting around beneath the surface to help distract him from his thoughts. He’d been enjoying a school of small yellow fish who’d been swimming back and forth in the shallows, completely unperturbed by his presence, when he felt the weight of someone watching him. Rising out of the water, pushing his dripping hair back from his face, he spotted Maia sitting on the beach, her purple sarongue and dark skin contrasting to the white sand.

“Morning,” he offered out the greeting as he made his way towards her, grabbing his towel and rubbing it absentmindedly against his wet hair.

“Morning,” she agreed before lapsing into a comfortable silence.

Alec dropped to sit on the sand beside her when it became clear that she had no intention of moving back towards camp. He was quite content to sit and enjoy the peaceful morning with her.

“You should give him a break you know?” Maia’s voice broke through the quiet. She was facing slightly away from him, but he could see the firm set of her jaw and realised she had come here to say exactly this.

“I’m not sure I follow,” he responded.

“Magnus. You should give him a break.” She turned to face him, looking him straight in the eye.

“I still don’t understand?” Alec was genuinely confused now. Sure he’d been avoiding Magnus a bit recently, but it wasn’t necessarily because of anything the other man had done, it was to protect himself. The less time he spent around him, the less he would be exposed to everything that was just _Magnus Bane_. He couldn’t face the thought of his feelings developing when they were unreciprocated. He’d decided that he wasn’t going to let it go any further than attraction and instead he was going to work on ‘finding himself’, whatever that meant. At least, that’s what students always told him they’d be doing on their gap years, when they travelled to islands like this. Alec was fairly sure that was code for ‘too many drugs, too much alcohol’ but he could see the appeal of getting away from the norm to find out who you really were.

“Look, I don’t know what’s changed between you two but I can tell something isn’t right. You’re avoiding him. And while Magnus will brush it off, pretend that everything is fine, I can tell it’s cutting him up inside.” Maia continued bluntly, “I know you had words about the drinking, and let me tell you, I’m very grateful you did. I think you’re the only person here he would have listened to on that one. But he’s stopped drinking himself into a coma every night so I’m not sure what he’s done to deserve you giving him the cold shoulder.”

“Am I really being that unfriendly to him?” He wondered out loud. While he’d been less ‘present’ during their downtime, he’d tried to at least be professional and courteous with Magnus.

Maia merely responded by raising one eyebrow at him.

He bought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them as if making himself physically smaller would somehow protect him as he pondered how he could possibly explain away his behaviour without having to admit the truth. Maia was patient, her gaze now trained on the waves lapping at the sand as she waited for him to speak.

“It’s not Magnus, OK.” He settled for something close to the truth. “It’s me. I just, I don’t know how these things are supposed to work, I’ve never been involved in fieldwork. At least not anything that’s more than a day or two consulting. It just seemed like, after the discovery of the smugglers stash, we’d forgotten that we were here to work and I was just trying to draw those professional boundaries back. And Magnus, well he’s here with a distinct goal in mind. His stake in this isn’t just academic, it’s personal. I don’t want us to fail and for him to come away disappointed or blaming the rest of us for losing focus.”

He shifted uncomfortably under the weight of Maia’s gaze.

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Her voice was a whisper, barely audible above the sounds of the ocean and the soft calls of jungle birds.

“I do.” He huffed out a breath, grimacing slightly at the admission.

“And is that such a bad thing?” She probed at him.

“Yes? No? I don’t even know anymore,” he groaned.

“Do you know how Magnus and I met?” she asked.

Alec shook his head, slightly confused at the change in direction.

“When I was in my final year of college, I was seeing this guy, Jordan. We were both poor and just trying to make ends meet so we rushed to the moving in part.” Maia explained, “There were a couple of warning signs, oh the joy of hindsight, but he seemed really great. Things escalated pretty quick from there. At first, it was just petty comments designed to make me feel bad about myself then it got more serious. He’d quiz me on where I was going, if I did group work he’d show up at the library ‘just to say hey’, if I was meeting friends he’d happen to be in the area and suddenly appear. It was only a couple of months before I couldn’t go anywhere apart from class, and even then he’d be there waiting for me.” She paused, taking a couple of deep breaths.

“The thing is, it felt wrong at the time but I couldn’t work out why. I knew that this wasn’t how a relationship should be but then, he had all these great moments. He taught me to surf, we’d go on cute dates to the aquarium, he’d buy me my favourite chinese food when I was feeling down. But then he also controlled everything about what I was doing.”

Her voice was detached, almost clinical as she explained. Alec picked at a loose bit of skin on his finger, unsure of what he should do, if he should comfort the young woman.

“I’d got a temp job doing some archiving work with a local museum. In fact, it was Magnus who hired me. After my first day on the job he insisted we go out for drinks to celebrate and get to know each other better. I could tell he meant it as a genuinely friendly offer nothing untoward. But that night when I got home late, Jordan could smell the alcohol on me and accused me of running off with another man. I told him no, I’d just been with my boss but apparently that meant I was trying to sleep my way into a permanent role. The argument escalated and he grabbed me, hard enough to leave bruises. That was the first time he got physical with me. The only time in fact.”

“I’m so sorry Maia,” Alec felt tears prickling in his eyes at her story. No one should have to experience that, not with someone they’re supposed to be able to trust.

She just shrugged at him with a sad smile and continued her story. “The next day when I showed up to work, Magnus spotted the marks and asked me what was going on. I tried my hardest to lie to him but he kept pushing. Eventually I told him the truth and he sprang into action. He contacted a friend of his, Luke, who’s a cop. Got Jordan arrested for assault. We knew the charges likely wouldn’t stick but he helped me pack up all my things while Jordan was in jail, got me a place to stay with another friend of his who had a spare room. Magnus made it seem so simple, so straight forward. He untangled me from that mess of a relationship when really, he didn’t have to do anything. He was my boss and he’d only just met me. He could have just carried on and ignored me, many people would have.” She looked him in the eye, “He’s a good guy Alec. There are far worse people in this world to care about.”

“It’s complicated.” He knew it was the flimsiest statement, but he couldn’t process all the information she had given him and still come up with a coherent and rational response. Magnus hadn’t been kidding when he’d said she deserved a break away.

She levelled him with a flat look before pushing herself to her feet.

“Come on, let’s see what Simon’s singing for us this morning!”

~~~

Alec spent the next few days trying to take on board what Maia had said to him. He still tried to keep things with Magnus on more professional terms but he stopped spending so much time hiding in his tent or alone at the beach. They still hadn’t made any progress with finding the treasure, but Alec felt slightly lighter now that he wasn’t in his self-imposed exile. And in turn, he noticed some of Magnus’ spark, that he hadn’t even realised was missing, had returned.

He was sat back in his camp chair, trying his best to maintain a grumpy facade as Simon danced around singing out of tune.

“ _Why do you build me up, buttercup, just to let me down,”_ he squawked out, as he spun around, tidying up the mess from breakfast. Simon could sing, they all knew it - back in New York he had a band that did alright for itself - but apparently he loved to torture them all more than he loved to show off.

“For fuck’s sake Simon!” Alec leaped out of his chair in shock at the coffee now dripping down his arm and chest, his shoulder and side of his face entirely soaked in the fragrant black liquid that Simon had managed to pour on him as he danced past.

“I’m so sorry,” Simon’s eyes were wide with panic as he grabbed for a cloth and began patting him down. “I didn’t burn you did I?”

“No, it wasn’t that hot thankfully,” he glared down at Simon, “But you should still be more careful. I guess I need to go clean off now.”

He grabbed for his towel and stormed off into the jungle in the direction of the lagoon.

When he got there he pulled his shirt off over his head and focussed on trying to get the coffee stains rinsed before they could set in. Once he’d set the shirt to dry on a flat rock in the sunshine, he removed his shoes and dived in, swimming a few fast paced lengths of the cool water until he was short of breath but feeling considerably calmer.

He rolled onto his back and floated, staring up at the sky peeking through the trees. Yes, he was feeling a lot calmer since his talk with Maia but clearly not enough considering he’d actually sworn at Simon. He’d have to apologise once he got back to camp but for now, he could use the time alone.

He counted in his head, they had six more days until Meliorn was due to collect them for the return journey. He’d all but given up any hope of finding Raziel’s treasure, and while he knew Magnus was still being cheerily optimistic on the outside, he could see the disappointment starting to creep in. He felt bad, but he was also looking forward to being home again. He missed Izzy and Jace, he missed waking up in an actual bed, he missed his coffee machine and meals that weren’t cooked over a fire. The island was great, and everything had been fine so far but he still missed his home comforts more than he had expected. Not to mention that once he was back in New York he wouldn’t constantly be faced with Magnus. He wouldn’t have to try to suppress his feelings constantly and could go back to living a normal life without the constant fear that he would snap and shove him up against a tree and kiss him breathless. His stomach squirmed at the thought and he mentally chastised himself for even thinking like that.

A splash of water across his face grabbed his attention and he looked up to find the man himself crouching at the edge of the water, grinning. Alec pivoted himself upright so he was treading water.

“You calmed down now, Grumpy?”

Alec, being the mature and responsible adult that he was, stuck his tongue out and splashed Magnus back, causing him to jump up in outrage, though his eyes danced with laughter showing there was no real malice in the downturn of his mouth.

“Want to talk about it?” Magnus asked.

“What’s there to talk about? Simon poured coffee on me, I snapped at him. I’ll apologise later.” Alec shrugged as much as he could while his body was still submerged.

“Hmmm, it’s just, you’ve seemed off for a while.,” Magnus prodded at him taking a seat at the water’s edge. 

“I’m just tired I guess.”

Magnus looked down at his feet where the toes of his shoes were just touching the water, his eyes hidden by his hair but his posture conveyed the sadness he clearly felt.

“I’m sorry this trip hasn’t been what you expected, Alexander. I thought I’d been pretty clear up front with what it could be…” Magnus spoke softly. The gentle movement of Alec’s hands as he tread water had pulled him closer to the waterfall, causing him to miss the end of Magnus’ sentence. Magnus looked up, clearly expecting a response from him though.

“I’m sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you over the roar of the waterfall.”

Alec paused for a moment, again not hearing Magnus’ response as he turned suddenly and with a splash to face the waterfall, realisation crashing over him.

“The roar of the waterfall. ‘ _His mighty roar is fearsome,’_ ” he murmured to himself, before repeating louder, “His mighty roar is fearsome! Magnus, what was the rest of the riddle?” He turned once more and pulled himself through the water towards his colleague with strong strokes. Magnus stared down at him in confusion. “Magnus, seriously. The riddle?”

“ _My gifts are safe, guarded by the one who runs forever yet never moves at all. He has no lungs nor throat but his mighty roar is fearsome._ ” Magnus repeated, his eyes widening comically, his mouth forming a small ‘o’ shape. “His mighty roar _is_ fearsome.”

He reached out a hand to Alec, helping pull him out of the water, a wide grin splitting his face.

“You’re a genius, Alexander. An actual, honest to God genius.”

But Alec was already rushing away from him, drying off his body roughly and pulling on his trainers.

“Look over there Magnus, I think there could be a way behind the waterfall,” he gestured at the cliff face. The dark rock didn’t give much to go on, even with the midday sun to light up the space, but looking closely, there were obvious notches in the surface that, if you were foolish enough, looked climbable.

“What do you say?” Alec grinned at him, all traces of his earlier frustration replaced by excitement. He could practically feel his body vibrating as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “Fancy a climb?”

Magnus looked up at the rockface and back at Alec, his eyes flitting between the two a couple of times. Alec couldn’t read his facial expression, it was somewhere between panic and excitement. Though eventually he seemed to settle for determination as he clenched his jaw and stepped forward.

“After you, Alexander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp - poor Alec with all the frustration... But that frustration might have been the thing to help them solve the puzzle, so maybe it was worth it?
> 
> As ever, thank you so much for reading - the comments have been making my day and I love you all dearly 💚💚💚


	8. Chapter 8

They clambered up the rockface along the side of the waterfall. While there were reasonable sized gouges in the rock forming a natural ladder, they weren’t overly prominent and the rock itself was slippery. Magnus was thankful for the vegetation growing out of the cliff face for providing extra supports to grab on to. He was also grateful in some ways that the climb required him to focus mostly on his foot positioning because whenever he looked up, the sight of Alec’s shorts stretched over his butt and his muscular legs flexing with the climb threatened to overwhelm him. Swooning halfway up a cliff was a surefire way to break lots of bones!

They were about 15 meters above the lagoon now and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. The excitement that Alec had managed to work out the clue had drawn them this far up but now, with the waterfall roaring just a meter to his right and his muscles beginning to cramp, he wasn’t sure this had been such a good idea. He froze, his breathing coming in shallow bursts. His left hand was wrapped tightly around the root of a bush that was brazenly growing perpendicular to the cliff face, his right foot, however, was scrabbling for purchase on a slippy ledge in the rock.

Above him Alec seemed to sense his fear, pausing to look down at Magnus. Under normal circumstances, he would have been ashamed to be under the scrutiny of someone who’s opinion he valued more than most other peoples, he would have been frustrated to show weakness. But at this moment, the fear had him paralysed.

“Just breathe Magnus,” Alec advised, seemingly calm despite their precarious positioning. “Trust your feet.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Magnus gritted out through clenched teeth, “Are you part mountain goat or something?”

Alec laughed, “See you can’t be that worried, you’re still able to mock me. Come on, there’s only a few meters until the top. Either we spot a way to get behind the waterfall or we reach the top safely and we can hike back down. Unless you’d rather climb down the way we’ve just come?” he challenged, with an arched eyebrow.

“If I die, this is all your fault,” Magnus grouched, but took a deep breath anyway and tried to relax his muscles.

“This adventure was all your idea, Magnus,” Alec said, continuing the climb. “Keep your arms straight, your weight low and push with your legs, you’ll feel steadier. I promise.”

Magnus grumbled under his breath about pretty boys and silly ideas, but he lifted his foot anyway to the next gouge in the rock. Remembering Alec’s words of wisdom he sucked in a deep breath and looked again for the next foothold. As long as he focussed on moving his feet and hands in sequence and kept his breathing even, he could do this. _Just don’t think about how far it is to fall!_ He scoffed at his unhelpful brain. Thoughts like that were never productive.

He looked up to check how much further he had to go before he reached safety and realized that Alec was no longer ahead of him. He almost lost his footing at the instantaneous fear that seized his body before realising that Alec had moved further towards the waterfall and was currently shuffling with his back to the rock towards the water. From his vantage point, Magnus couldn’t see anything to give away why Alec had suddenly decided to change direction but he assumed something must have prompted him into choosing that route. Spurred on by curiosity, he continued his ascent until he was almost level with where Alec was waiting for him on a ledge protruding from the rockface.

A vine hung over the edge of the rockface, the perfect positioning to help lever himself up onto the ledge. He gave it an experimental tug and only once he was reassured that it was firmly rooted did he use it to pull himself up until he was standing next to Alec, sucking in a deep breath to steady his nerves.

Now that he was up here, he felt a little more stable. While it wasn’t wide enough for his full feet, only his toes poked out over the edge.

“Wow,” he murmured breathlessly looking out at the view. From where they now stood, they were in among the canopy of the trees. Up here, the light took on a greenish hue where it filtered in through the foliage. He could see patches of cloudless sky through breaks in the leaves and below them, the lagoon glistened in the clearing.

“I think we might be close,” Alec said, capturing his attention before jerking his head towards the waterfall.

Gripping the vine again, Magnus leaned forward slightly to peer around him and gasped. Between where the water dropped towards the lagoon and the cliff face the ledge widened out, protected by the rush of water and exposing a cave entrance.

“I think you might be right.”

“Shall we?” Alec invited with a grin, holding out his hand to Magnus. They gripped each other’s palms and shuffled until the ledge was wide enough for them both to stand safely. Magnus glanced down towards where their hands met but didn’t break the bond. They’d come this far together. It felt important that they kept the link as they continued their exploration.

Inside the cave, the noise of the waterfall felt comparatively dulled, a reassuring presence rather than a warning roar. Magnus looked around the small space, looking for the source of the gentle illumination that only added to the sense of peace. While some light was filtering in through the waterfall at their backs, the main source appeared to be a small gap in the cave’s roof, barely as broad as Magnus’ torso.

“See, we probably didn’t need to make the death climb,” he bumped Alec gently with his shoulder, gesturing towards the gap above their heads.

“Yes, but then our adventure wouldn’t have been nearly as epic,” he teased back.

“Alexander,” Magnus whispered, awestruck. Goosebumps prickled his skin, not just caused by the cooler air in the cave. He gestured again, this time to the floor in the centre of the cave where a treasure chest sat in pride of place.

They turned to each other in unison, Alec wrapping his arms around Magnus’ middle and enveloping him in a giant bear hug.

“You did it!” Alec exclaimed, lifting him from the ground. “You actually did it!”

Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck as the taller man spun him around in excitement. He tucked his face against Alec’s neck, overcome with emotion.

“No, _we_ did it, Alexander,” tears pricked at the corner of his eyes as he realised that not only had he found the damn treasure, he had gotten here with the help of this amazing man. Alec lowered him slowly until his feet were back on firm ground but neither of them moved to break the embrace they shared. They parted only slightly so they could look at each other.

Magnus felt his grin would split his face in two, as he looked into the beautiful hazel eyes in front of him. He noticed that Alec looked entirely too serious for this moment but as he opened his mouth to question it, a pair of lips crashed into his.

He froze in surprise, the unexpected feel of those soft lips against his causing his brain to disengage. Magnus didn't realise he'd been seeing a dull version of everything around him until the moment Alec's lips met his. It was like the world suddenly became technicolour, with every shade of the rainbow dancing before his eyes.

OK, so maybe he was being dramatic but the man he had been crushing on for the best part of a decade was currently kissing him. Alexander Lightwood was here. Right now. Kissing him. He was allowed to react this way.

He lifted slightly on his tiptoes to create a better angle, molding his lips against Alec’s with a soft sigh. He threaded one hand into Alec’s hair, carding through the dark locks while the other hand trailed down his back, pulling him closer.

Alec’s mouth parted slightly, and Magnus seized the opportunity to nip gently at his lower lip with his teeth, before deepening the kiss. He couldn’t believe that this was really happening.

Pulling back only when they were both breathless, they pressed their foreheads together and grinned. Alec’s hands stroked restlessly at his sides.

“I think you’ve got some treasure to investigate,” he smirked down at Magnus.

“I’ve got all the treasure I need right here thanks,” Magnus quipped, nipping again at Alec’s lower lip to punctuate the thought.

Alec groaned in exasperation, “That was the worst pick-up line I’ve ever heard.”

“Judging by the way you just kissed me, I don’t need pick-up lines,” Magnus shot back.

“Shut it,” was the only response he got before Alec grabbed at his hand and dragged him towards the chest.

They kneeled side by side in front of the dark wooden box. The joints were reinforced with metal supports and the lid was closed with two ornate clasps. By mutual decision, they each grabbed a clasp, barely daring to breathe.

“Together?” Magnus whispered.

“Together,” Alec nodded and they both pulled back their clasps and lifted the lid of the chest, with a slight squeak of the old hinges.

The first thing that occurred to Magnus when they opened the chest was a sense of relief. There was actually something in there. A small part of him had feared that they would have been beaten to this by looters in the preceding 200 years. But that relief was short founded. Before him sat a chest full of… Well, he could only describe it as _stuff._ Certainly not the traditional kind of treasure associated with pirates.

At the very top sat a very scuffed mirror, dulled with age and framed by simple wood. Magnus lifted it out gently, blowing the layer of dust from the surface. It was about the size of an A4 sheet of paper and the reflection it offered was hazy and dull. Magnus set it aside carefully so he could inspect the contents hidden beneath it.

Pulling out the next item, a rusted sword with a gold gilded handle. Magnus tossed it in the air a few times as if to check its weight before setting it aside. Next to him, Alec was looking in confusion at the leather item he had pulled from the chest, made up of multiple strands of soft-looking leather, with knots at intervals.

“It’s a cat o’ nine tails,” Magnus informed him, running his fingers through the cords to untangle them.

“I know that. But these were generally favoured by the British Navy as a punishment. It surprises me that a pirate would have one as a keepsake,” Alec replied.

“Remember Alexander, not all pain is for punishment.” Magnus threw his blushing companion a wink before reaching back into the box and pulling out an elegantly forged chalice. The main body of the cup was frosted glass, encapsulated in gold strands forming an intricate pattern which wove around the stem and the glass. Within the stem, a gleaming ruby caught the light, held in place by the gold detailing before the base flared out. He added it to his collection of artefacts before sparing a glance to the pile Alec was amassing, which seemed to consist of more leather whips and a collection of manacles with leather cuffs and rusted chains.

Magnus peered into the chest to see that all that remained was a collection of ivory items. Lifting the largest of them out he offered it to Alec with a laugh.

“Is that?” the other man said, eyes wide with shock.

“You know, I think it might be.” Magnus managed to get out through his laughter.

In his hand he held an incredibly realistic, if slightly large, carving of a penis. Around 10 inches in length and with a reasonable girth, the maker had clearly put significant effort into the details, including folds of skin, veins running up the shaft and a small heart-shaped indent towards the base.

“I’d suggest taking it for a spin but I fear I would leave you disappointed in comparison,” Magnus joked.

Alec shoved him lightly, a flush creeping up the sides of his neck and colouring his cheeks a delightful shade of pink. Magnus loved every single one of Alec’s blushes, they always made him want to kiss the heated skin. Now he knew that he could. Enjoying the confidence still brimming in him from their earlier kiss, he pressed his lips to Alec’s cheeks and revelled in the way his cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

He continued to trail kisses down Alec’s cheek, through his stubble, until he reached his lips. Pressing delicate kisses, first to the corner, before moving to fully meet his lips with his own. This kiss was softer than their first but no less passionate. Their lips moved against each other in a perfect dance. Magnus was fairly certain he could spend the rest of his life kissing this man and never get bored. Alec pressed one hand against Magnus’ neck, drawing him closer and sinking his fingers into his hair. Magnus groaned at the sensation, goosebumps forming on his skin. Alec’s other hand caressed his lower back. Magnus brought his hands up to grasp at Alec’s shoulders, feeling the warmth of his skin penetrating the thin material of his cotton shirt. They stayed like that, lost in the moment, until by mutual consent they both pulled back, smiling softly at each other through hooded eyes.

“C’mon,” Alec’s voice came out surprisingly gruff. Clearing his throat, he continued closer to his normal pitch. “We should check the rest of this stuff out, then work out how we’re going to get back to camp.”

“Fine,” Magnus sighed dramatically. Taking another look in the chest he quickly identified the remaining objects. Now his curiosity around the treasure had been satisfied he was keen to get back to kissing Alec. “All that remains seems to be Raziel’s collection of ivory butt plugs. Six of them to be exact.”

“Well, whatever I expected we would find, I would never have guessed this,” Alec huffed out with a chuckle, sitting back on his heels.

“Yes, yes. Laugh it up, my entire life’s work has been dedicated to the pursuit of centuries-old sex toys,” Magnus mock glared.

“Don’t pretend you’re not going to enjoy making stuffy old academics feel really awkward as you present your findings in _intimate_ detail at conferences for at least the next decade,” Alec nudged him.

Magnus chuckled, “That’s true. It’s going to be a delight seeing some of the old guard deal with this.”

“Let’s pack them back up for now. We should head back to camp soon so we don’t risk losing the light and being stuck in the jungle at night. We can work out what we need to do with it all tomorrow.”

Nodding in agreement, Magnus began to collect the items he had removed from the chest. They quickly and carefully stowed the ‘treasures’ back in the chest.

“While it’s likely not worth anything, I think they deserve pride of place in a museum somewhere,” Magnus suggested.

Alec raised an eyebrow, “You think a museum will display this stuff?”

“Alexander, how dare you suggest that a museum wouldn’t be lucky to have these artefacts in their collection. And if they don’t want them,” Magnus shrugged nonchalantly, “then I guess I’ll have to open my own museum.”

Alec’s answering laugh was music to Magnus’ ears. Even if it was at his expense, Magnus would never say no to hearing that carefree, deep, throaty chuckle.

“So, back the way we came or do you want to see if there’s an easier way through the roof?” Alec asked, changing the subject. “I think I could boost you through that hole - the ceiling isn’t too high. Then you could find something to lower down for me to climb up?”

“Let’s do that one,” Magnus said, desperate to avoid being on a rockface ever again.

Alec knelt and cupped his hands, preparing to lift Magnus when he suddenly turned back towards the treasure. “We should take something with us, just to prove to Simon & Maia that we were successful.”

“As long as it’s not anything ivory,” Alec warned.

Magnus rifled through the chest for a moment before grabbing the cutlass. Alec joined him, helping himself to one of the leather objects from the chest. Magnus raised an eyebrow at him.

“Shut up,” Alec growled.

“Never said a word,” he grinned back.

“You didn’t have to,” Alec’s eyes were narrowed, but the crinkles at the corners and the slight uplift of his lips was all the evidence Magnus needed that he was not-so-secretly amused.

Looping the scabbard of the cutlass around his neck he made his way back to beneath the opening in the roof. Alec obediently knelt, cupping his hands for Magnus to step into. Steadying himself on Alec’s shoulder with one hand he looked up at the rocks above his head to make sure he wouldn’t concuss himself. Alec stood, pushing him towards the gap in the roof, Magnus reached above his head to find anything to grip on to. Once he had found a couple of stable enough handholds in the rock, he pulled himself up until he could use the bulk of his body to wedge himself into the gap.

Hoping he didn’t look as ridiculous as he felt, he wriggled himself out of the hole and into the sunlight.

Glancing around he looked for anything that might be sturdy enough to help hoist Alec through the hole too. Spotting a particularly thick looking vine wrapped around a nearby tree, he used the cutlass to hack through it, cutting off a section a couple of meters long. He dropped one end down into the hole.

A soft “ooft” echoed up to him and he laughed slightly.

“Sorry, I should have warned you to watch out there,” he apologised. He braced himself against a nearby tree and secured his grip on his end of the vine, wrapping it around his wrists a couple of times to be safe. “Ready when you are,” he called.

His feet slid forward a few centimeters as Alec put his weight through the vine. Magnus secured himself more fully, sinking down to lower his weight and leaning back away from the hole in the ground. It was barely a minute before he lost his balance and toppled back when Alec’s weight disappeared suddenly. A shock of dark hair appeared out the hole, quickly followed by shoulders and torso. Alec pulled himself up and dusted himself off, grinning at Magnus still sat spread eagle on the ground where he’d fallen.

He reached out a hand and offered it to Magnus. Gratefully, Magnus grasped at his wrist and heaved himself to his feet with as much elegance as he could muster.

Glancing around to get their bearings, Alec gestured to their left “I think we should go this way.”

“Lead the way,” Magnus agreed, more than happy to take the opportunity to ogle Alec’s ass as he picked his way through the trees.

As it was, the slopes back down to camp required more of Magnus’ concentration than he cared to admit. Picking their way through the trees, at one point Magnus resorted to using Raziel’s cutlass as a machete to cut through a particularly dense bit of foliage.

“Looks like you made a good call picking that up,” Alec commented with a grin.

“Yep,” Magnus said preening slightly, “And don’t think I haven’t noticed that delectable bit of leather strapped to your leg, Alexander. A thigh holster, fancying yourself as an assassin?”

“Shush. It was the least creepy thing in that chest of doom,” Alec mumbled, face flushing bright red.

Magnus grinned to himself, enjoying the reactions he could illicit out of the handsome man before him. He really did blush in the most adorable way.

“One man’s chest of doom is another man’s chest of pleasure,” he offered with a wink.

Alec just offered a heavy sigh, before turning on his heel and continuing down the slope. They reached camp with barely an hour to spare until sunset. Looking around, the space was unusually quiet considering Simon was on the island with them.

“Looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Magnus took the opportunity to press himself up against Alec, revelling in the feeling of his muscular chest and sculpted abs through the thin shirt. Pressing a kiss against his throat he put on his best sultry voice, low and silky, “Your tent or mine?”

Alec groaned but returned his kiss none the less.

“Can you stop with the bad pick-up lines, please? You’ve already got me, I’m all yours Magnus.”

Magnus’ heart fluttered wildly in his chest. All pretence of shameless flirting forgotten at the sudden sincerity in Alec’s eyes.

“Mine?”

“As long as you’ll have me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to [AceonIce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce) for capturing the moment our boys finally broke and gave into their feelings!  
> If only they'd done this sooner, neither of them would've spent weeks of frustrated pining ;) But then where would the fun in that be for us?!  
> Now they just have to deal with the frustration of their discovery instead *evil authorial laugh* muahahahaha
> 
> There will be a small epilogue to follow up - thank you so much for coming on this journey - I really hope you've enjoyed it 💙💙💙


	9. Epilogue

“ _Yo-ho, yo-ho, it’s a pirate’s life for me,_ ” Magnus sang tunelessly, swaying from side to side where he sat on the soft, warm sand. Every sway nudged his shoulder against Alec’s and sent tiny bursts of electricity through his skin.

Alec hiccupped slightly and grabbed the bottle of rum from Magnus’ hand where it threatened to slosh all over him from the precarious angle Magnus was waving it at. In his other hand, Magnus gripped the rusted sword they’d found with Raziel’s belongings. With his beach shorts and open cotton shirt, Magnus should not have been able to look as attractive as he did. Admittedly, Alec was probably biased about that.

Ahead of them, the sun lowered on the horizon, casting a pinky-orange glow over the sea. The waves lapped at the shore, tickling at their bare toes. Alec leaned his head against Magnus' shoulder with a happy sigh.

Magnus smiled down at him and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead in response, before eyeing him up and down, a mischievous glint in his eye. 

“You know, that thigh holster doesn’t really go with the swim shorts. But you still pull it off. Like I will, later on. Using only my teeth.”

Alec sputtered, feeling his cheeks heat.

"You're awful." 

"But you love it, darling," Magnus grinned at him, pulling him in for another kiss. 

Alec was relishing the fact that this was a thing he could do now. He didn't have to hold himself back, didn't have to avoid reaching out for Magnus. He didn't have to resist the magnetic pull of this beautiful, kind, intelligent man. Shifting in the sand until he was kneeling, he leaned over Magnus, pushing the other man back until he lay splayed in the sand and kissed him deeply. 

A noise alerted him to movement behind them. He sat up quickly and pulled away from Magnus, turning to see Simon and Maia approaching them from the treeline.

“Where have you guys been?” Magnus called out, cheerfully. “You weren’t back at camp for us to regale you with the tales of our adventure.” Alec couldn't understand how he could flick from a kiss like that to friendly and nonchalant in 0.5 seconds. Meanwhile, Alec found himself glancing down to check his board shorts were loose enough to hide just how affected he was by kissing Magnus.

“We were out looking for you. You went to the lagoon hours ago, we were worried.” Simon paused in his attempt at a stern telling off. “Wait, is that a sword? Why do you have a sword?”

“Well Seamus, that would be because this incredibly intelligent, handsome and... intelligent man next to me cracked the code. This, my friends, is Raziel’s cutlass.” He jumped to his feet, swaying slightly, and with an attempt at a dramatic flick of his wrist which almost made him lose his balance, pointed the tip of the sword in Simon’s direction as if challenging him to a duel. Alec chuckled, too amused by Magnus’ drunken rambling and hilarious attempts at being a pirate to be overly embarrassed by his words.

“Impressive.” Maia drawled, ever sarcastic. “Was that all you found?”

Magnus’ face fell slightly for a fraction of a second as he remembered the conflicting emotions surrounding their discovery before he swiftly recovered and with a grin declared, “Not at all! It turns out, dear Raziel left us a plentiful bounty of sex toys.” He cracked up again as he tried to explain, the end of his sentence trailing off into unintelligible syllables interrupted by laughter. He tried again “They… were... Sex… toys” he huffed out, breathless with his mirth.

Below him, still collapsed on the sand, nursing the bottle of rum, Alec fondly rolled his eyes. Magnus flopped back down next to Alec and reached over him making grabby hands towards the rum. Passing the bottle, Alec took the opportunity to press a chaste kiss to Magnus’ temple, causing him to preen at the attention.

“Wait. Forget the treasure for a minute!” Simon yelled out, excitement rolling off him in waves. “When did this development happen?” He gestured frantically between Magnus and Alec, causing Alec’s eyes to practically roll into the back of his head at the dramatics.

“Finally,” Maia added more sedately but with a warm smile. “The sexual tension around here was getting uncomfortable.”

Alec just smiled and pulled Magnus closer, trying to ignore the blush he felt rising up his cheeks. _‘The real treasure he’d found on this trip was the affection of the man tucked into his side’_. If anyone questioned him later he would deny until his dying day any such sappy thoughts crossed his mind. But here, with the sun low on the horizon, safe in the knowledge that they’d found Raziel’s gifts and succeeded in what they set out to do, he felt content. They still had a couple of days before they were due to leave to relax and enjoy the new step in their relationship in this paradise. Alec intended to take advantage of every minute of that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they lived happily ever after of course!
> 
> Thank you for coming on this journey! This story was born out of a passing joke on Twitter and turned into something that I’ve really enjoyed writing, so I hope it’s also been enjoyable to read too!  
> One final shout out to my incredible Beta without whom this wouldn’t have come together at all, thank you [Echele78](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echele78/pseuds/Echele78)
> 
> Now this is completely posted I guess I should really take another look at that giant WIP list I have _squints_
> 
> Thank you and I love each & every person who read this 🧡🧡🧡
> 
> [Lex](https://twitter.com/notquiteascrazy) xx


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